The Nine Tails of the Heart
by The Arms of Blood
Summary: Kyuubi makes a deal with Naruto, for power, for love... giving Naruto Nine Tails atattched to his heart... Eventual NaruXHarem.   -Original chapters taken down, all current chapters are part of the rewrite-
1. A New Face! Hidetoshi, Miyoi!

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any associated material. This is purely a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, alive or dead, is purely coincidental. This disclaimer applies to this chapter, and all following material, posted at any date, by me, The Arms of Blood_

_The original story was taken down from the site, what follows is the rewritten product,  
I hope you enjoy the read!_

**The Nine Tails of the Heart**

**( ~ I ~ )**

_**Chapter One: A New Face! Hidetoshi, Miyoi!**_

The wind rustled the leaves in the trees and sent ripples across the water of the lake.

He liked the lake. Most people were too _'busy'_ doing _'important'_ things to spend some time by the lake, and even if they had the time, it was _'too far'_ from most of the housing districts for anyone to bother making the trip. Which, of course, meant that there was hardly ever anyone around. He preferred it that way.

The lake was a great place to think, and to vent some anger, and that's what he needed it for at the moment. He had come to terms with the fact that the village didn't like... he shook his head and chuckled to himself, dislike was putting it mildly, putting it much too mildly. The village hated him... well, not the village, but everyone inside of it. Pure, undiluted resentment that went so far beyond hatred he couldn't think of a single word to describe it.

He tossed another rock out over the lake and watched it skip across the surface of the water, and then sink with an audible 'pullop' as the lake swallowed the stone. He bent down to pick up another rock and growled at the image that the water reflected. His unruly, and wind-tossed golden blonde hair covered his head and stuck out into natural spikes. His eyes were a deep, melancholy, blue, and on each cheek were three nearly symmetrical scars. He had always wondered about those scars – had they been given to him so long ago that he didn't remember anymore, or were those part of the reason why people called him a _'monster'_ and a _'demon'_, and made signs against evil whenever they saw him? He quickly shook the thought out of his head and stood up when he heard footsteps behind him.

The approaching man had a scowl on his face as he stormed up to the boy, "What the hell are you doing! Why didn't you show up to class!"

The boy turned around, back towards the lake, away from the village, and tossed the rock he had picked up, "Why should I show up to class? I never get taught anything."

The man growled and ran a hand through his black hair, he hated being this kid's sensei sometimes, he was so damned stubborn and difficult. "I swear Naruto, this is the reason you have such a hard time with everything – you spend your time goofing off instead of training with the rest of..."

A growl escaped his throat as he span around and glared at the man, "Training with the rest of the kids? I never get trained! I never get picked as a sparing partner! I never get any assistance from any of the instructors! I never get a chance to do something again if I get it wrong the first time! And I never get any words of encouragement! All any of you ever tell me is how hopeless and useless and worthless I am, and that I shouldn't be wasting your time which you could be using to teach the other students! So why the hell are you wasting your time on me when I don't show up! What'll happen if I don't go to class? What makes you so worried?"

He stood there staring at the irate boy, trying to find some words to say, but his mind was blank and his mouth was agape like some land-stuck fish. "Naruto..."

"I'll go to class Iruka-sensei, but I want you to understand, it doesn't benefit anyone that I attend."

**( ~ I ~ )**

A frustrated looking Naruto was pushed through the door of the academy classroom, followed by an equally frustrated looking Iruka. "Now go sit down and stop arguing with me!"

Naruto bit his lip to keep from saying anything he really shouldn't, "Fine..."

A clawed hand rested on Naruto's desk as a brown-haired boy leaned across the row and chuckled lightly, "Wow, Naruto, what did you do to make Iruka-sensei so mad? I haven't seen him this angry in a while!"

"Shut it, dog-face!" Naruto growled, not even bothering to look at Kiba. He was not in the mood to deal with anyone today, especially not after the tongue-lashing he had gotten from Iruka on the way to the academy.

"What did you call me?" Kiba growled as his claws dug into the desk and he stood up, preparing to attack the blonde.

Naruto didn't say anything, he just turned and glared at the boy, letting out just a little of his bottled up hatred show through his face. Kiba was probably the closest out of all of the other kids to himself - in temperment at least, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing.

Kiba growled again and then sat back down at his desk, "Don't call me that again, Naruto." A sideways glance at the other students, to see exactly who was paying attention, "Or there will be consequences."

"No there won't..." Naruto shrugged as he re-bottled his hatred, angry at himself for not holding all of it in.

"There won't what?" Kiba was on his feet again, glaring with all of the intensity he could muster.

"Naruto! Kiba! Enough! Sit down, both of you!" Iruka growled at the two boys.

"Hai, sensei." Kiba said, his head bowed slightly as he took his seat. He was cowed, for now, but there would come a day when he would get back at Naruto.

Naruto didn't respond, he just turned his head and looked out the window. This was going to be another long day.

**( ~ I ~ )**

_The next day_

Iruka looked at the assembled class and sighed, it looked like Naruto was skipping class again today. Well, that was just fine, Naruto could get in all the trouble he wanted, and then he would have to explain to the hoka... no... bad idea. Iruka shook his head, Naruto wouldn't be the one explaining to the Hokage why he was getting into so much trouble, he would be the one having to try to explain why he wasn't in class... and Naruto, damn brat, would probably be laughing his head off.

"INCOMING!" Naruto roared as he flew through the door, just as the bell rang, signaling that class had started, and that anyone who wasn't already inside was late – and there were penalties for being late. Naruto barely avoided bowling over the girl that was standing right next to Iruka, he couldn't avoid, however, running into her. He profusely apologized, not even bothering to look up at her face. He thought that she was probably going to hit him, like everyone else did.

"Naruto! Get in your seat, your holding up the class – and stop attacking your new classmate!" Iruka yelled at the poor boy who slunk over to his chair.

Iruka sighed again and rolled his eyes, wondering, why he, of all people, had been chosen to be Naruto's sensei until he graduated... _if_ he ever graduated.

"Alright everyone, listen up!" He paused a moment to make sure he had everyone's attention, "You are all getting a new classmate today. She entered the academy late, because her family moved here only recently. She learned in the last two months what all... what _most_ of you..." Iruka corrected himself, "learned over the last several years, so her skills might not be as polished as all of yours. That, however, doesn't give you the right to treat her any different than you treat any of your other classmates. Now..." He turned his attention to the new girl and smiled at her, "Why don't you introduce yourself."

She nodded, faced the class, and bowed. Her fingers were laced together, and Naruto could tell that she was squeezing her hands tightly, because the skin on her hands was a pale white instead of the flushed red that covered the rest of her visible skin. She had long brown hair that looked like it went to the small of her back. Her smile was soft, unsure, and obviously forced – probably because she was nervous. "My name is Hidetoshi, Miyoi. I look forward to working with you all." She looked over to Iruka, unsure of what to do next. She was wearing a short, very dark green, dress that went from her shoulders to just past her knees. The hem of her dress swished back and forth as she stood there nervously, looking to Iruka for further instructions.

Iruka smiled at her, "Alright, go ahead and have a seat..." He waited a few moments for her to get settled in, before nodding at her once more and then looking at the chalkboard, he silently wondered if her choosing the seat right next to Naruto was going to cause any problems... Well, since Naruto was already a problem, he wondered if it was going to cause any _more_ problems...

"Today, class, we're going to be talking about..."

**( ~ I ~ )**

_A few months later_

Iruka looked out over the class, in another year and a half or so he'd be done with these kids, and Kami-sama willing, done with Naruto too. A smile crossed his face at the thought – Naruto, with a sensei... whom he would annoy... endlessly... and the sensei's name wouldn't be Umino, Iruka.

"Hey, Iruka, snap out of it! Stop dreaming about the vacation you're never going to be able to take!"

Iruka glared at Naruto, trying not to yell at him, "It's Iruka-sensei, Naruto."

"Not if you're not teaching us anything it isn't..."

"Naruto!"

Naruto bowed his head, more from an unwillingness to continue the argument any longer then from having been sufficiently cowed, "Sorry... Iruka" a slight pause, just long enough for Iruka to notice, "-sensei."

Iruka was fuming inside, vividly imaging beating Naruto over the head with various blunt objects.

"Iruka-sensei?"

"Yes, Choji?"

"Shikamaru wants to know; Since you're not going to teach anything today, can we go home?"

"No!"

Choji shrugged, leaned back in his chair, and started snacking on his bag of chips once again.

Shikamaru sighed, "Troublesome..."

**( ~ I ~ )**

_The next morning_

"Alright class, today, and for all of next week, we'll be outside at the practice fields training."

The class responded with various stages of enthusiasm. Ranging between great joy, and undiluted frustration.

_Outside_

By the time Iruka managed to get his entire class outside into the sunshine, some of the practice fields were already occupied by more senior students – who, done with their actual class, were released to go practice on their own, or go home, at their own discretion.

Hinata immediately recognized her older cousin Neji, and he immediately recognized her. A scowl gilded his face as he turned away from his younger cousin, and faced the two children in the ring closest to him – who were both easily dodging each other's attacks.

"Now, everyone!" Iruka had to clear his throat a few times, and watch as a few of the students nudged their friends in the side with their elbows, before he had everyone's attention, "We're going to running through some target practice drills, taijutsu sparing, and substitution techniques. Today we're going to focus on target practice – any questions?" A short pause and a frustrated Iruka later, "Yes – Naruto, what is it!" Iruka asked impatiently.

"How are we going to be practicing substitution techniques?"

"Simple," Iruka paused, a malevolent grin spreading across his face, "I'm going to throw stuff at you."

A few of the students groaned, especially Naruto.

_A few minutes later_

Everyone was hitting the target almost every time, and a few of the students were even hitting the bulls-eye consistently... everyone, that is to say, but Naruto.

Naruto threw another three shuriken at the target, and all three veered off target just before they hit – almost as if there were some shield that was thing keeping them from hitting the dummy. "Damn it!" Naruto growled as he pulled out another few shuriken and tried again – with equally abysmal results.

"Naruto! What are you doing? How have you not had a single shuriken hit your target yet?"

Naruto took a few breathes before turning to Iruka, "It's almost as if the damn thing has a shield! That's why I can't hit it! Watch!" Naruto just flicked his wrist and the single shuriken embedded itself, dead-center, on the target.

Iruka rolled his eyes, "So, Naruto... what you just said is that you haven't been trying..."

Naruto shook his head, "That's not true! I have!"

Iruka shook his head, looking up at the sky for a moment, before turning to talk to some of the other students... ignoring Naruto like everyone in the village had done for as long as Naruto could remember.

"Naruto-san..." Miyoi approached Naruto slowly, cautiously.

"Yeah?" Naruto lowered his hands, a few shuriken still held in them, "Oh, hey Miyoi-chan, what can I do for you?"

Miyoi smiled, and brushed her hair out of her face, revealing a blush on her cheeks, "Umm... Naruto-san..." She paused for a moment, as if she was fighting with herself over if she should say it or not.

When she didn't say anything else for a few moments Naruto placed his weaponless hand on her shoulder, "Are you okay, Miyoi-chan? Kiba wasn't bugging you was he?"

Miyoi shook her head, "No, I... I was just..." She took a breathe and looked him in the eyes, "I just wanted you to know, the reason your shuriken aren't hitting the target ... you're holding and throwing them wrong." She then averted her eyes, sure that he would be mad with her.

Naruto laughed, "That would explain it..." He took a step away from her and glared daggers at the target, he didn't want her to think that he was angry with her, and the dummy wouldn't be any worse off from his anger. "It makes sense though..."

Miyoi mustered up the courage to look up at him, pleased to see that he wasn't mad with her, "It explains what? How does it make sense, Naruto-san?"

"They," He waved his hand towards the academy building dismissively , "Taught me to throw them this way." He threw another to emphasize his point, watching it veer off to the side just before it struck.

"I... I could..." She took another deep breathe.

"You would really do that?" He looked at her and smiled, "You'd really stay after class and help me with the shuriken and kunai?" When she returned the smile and nodded he pulled her into a hug and chuckled, "Thanks, Miyoi-chan!"

Neither of the spectators were amused.

"N...Naruto-k... kun..."

"Naruto-baka! What do you think you're doing! Stop fooling around, let Miyoi do her work, and do some work yourself!" Iruka roared at the boy, who immediately let Miyoi out of the hug and smiled timidly at her.

_After class_

"Hey, Miyoi-chan!"

Miyoi turned her head to see Kiba coming over, a smile plastered on his face, "Yes, Kiba-san?"

"I wanted to know..." He grinned, "Since school's done for the week... do you want to hang out?"

Miyoi returned his smile, "I would Kiba-san, but..." her smile faded as she lowered her eyes.

"But what?"

"I... ummm... I already promised Naruto-san I'd help him with his technique..."

Kiba started laughing, "You're really going to spend time helping that baka? Wow, Miyoi-chan, you're a nicer person than I thought!"

Naruto tried not to take offense. Kiba was a loud mouth, and often said things first, and then thought about them never – but he wasn't about to let that go so easily, "You know... Kiba-baka, I'm standing right here."

Kiba glanced over Miyoi's shoulder and glared at the blonde, "Yeah? What of it?"

Naruto returned the glare, frowning at the brown-haired boy for a moment before turning back to the training dummy, "It's rude to call someone an idiot without good cause..."

"You just called me an idiot!"

"I have good cause..."

Kiba was ready to attack Naruto, but the arrival of his older sister stopped him, "Watch your back, Naruto."

"Is that a threat, Kiba?" Naruto asked, looking back towards the other boy, ready to defend himself if he needed to.

"No... a friendly warning." With that said, Kiba ran over to his sister's side and started talking with her, casting a few glances back towards Naruto as his sister pulled him away from the gate.

Naruto didn't respond, he just went back to practicing. "He may not like you much, Miyoi-chan, because of what just happened..."

It took her a moment to find her feet, and her tongue, "What did just happen, Naruto-san?"

"He's just labeled you as being my friend. That means that he, and probably most of the other kids, are not going to like you."

"What's wrong with being your friend, Naruto-san?" Miyoi asked, honestly confused.

"Well..." Naruto threw another shuriken, and watched it strike the dummy's heart with a dull thud.

"Well?"

"Most of the people in the village... they... don't like me..."

She looked at the shuriken scattered around the base of Naruto's assigned target dummy and remembered what he had said just a few hours ago, _"They..." he waved his hand towards the academy building dismissively, "Taught me to throw them this way."_

That would explain why they had taught him wrong, but it didn't explain... "Why? Why don't people... like you Naruto-san?"

Naruto shrugged, and tossed another few shuriken towards the wooden dummy, "Beats me..."

**Chapter End**

Author's Notes:

This is the rewritten chapter 1 (Posted September 25, 2010 – Saturday - stayed up past midnight finishing it, and now I'm off to bed )

This story does not have a beta reader.

I am human, I may have missed a few things – though I have gone back through what I've typed and looked for mistakes.

Enjoy!

Now to start work on chapter two... after I get some sleep ^.^

As always - I can respect criticism... and If I'm spelling something wrong, or improperly using a suffix, etc. please feel free to correct me.


	2. To Try Your Best

**The Nine Tails of the Heart**

**( ~ II ~ )**

_**Chapter Two: To Try Your Best**_

The next few years trudged by at a dreary pace for Naruto. He was, however, with Miyoi's help, slowly getting better at all the techniques he had always been miserable at – or, that is to say, all of them except the clone jutsu.

And as the last few weeks of the academy approached the children, and the instructors were intensely glad. Most of the children were excited about the upcoming graduation exams, a few were worried – but all of them, and their families, were anxious.

The morning sun had just risen over the Hokage mountain, and as the city began to wake, one word tore open the silence, and peace of the early morning... "NARUTO!"

The Hokage mountain had been vandalized, again, by Naruto Uzumaki – the village prankster. And, after a chase that lasted for a good half hour – Naruto was back on the mountain once again, this time with a bucket of water, some soap, and a scrub brush, complaining about how unfair it was.

"All of the paint better be scrubbed off before class starts Naruto!" Iruka threatened as he glared at the boy, standing a little to his side, to make sure he worked.

"Yeah, yeah – whatever."

"You wouldn't have to scrub the paint off of the mountain if you didn't put it there in the first place, Naruto – you brought this on yourself."

"I also wouldn't have to scrub the paint off if I didn't get caught..."

"Naruto..." Iruka sighed, "Even if we couldn't catch you – we would know exactly who did it, and you couldn't run forever. You're only human."

Naruto huffed, "I wish the village would treat me that way..."

The wind tossed Iruka's hair about his face as those words struck home. Naruto had never really been treated like a human being had he? Iruka hadn't helped much in that regard. Hadn't he, himself, turned to pranks and mischief when he was a kid, and looking for attention? Isn't that just what Naruto had been doing recently? Iruka sighed again as he looked up at the Fourth Hokage's face and grimaced, _"You never wanted us to treat the kid this poorly did you?"_ Iruka looked over to Naruto who was complaining, under his breathe, about how everything was so unfair as he scrubbed the paint from the face. _"Even when you sealed Kyuubi inside of this kid – you knew that people wouldn't treat him right... but you hoped..."_ Iruka shook the thoughts out of his head, he was beginning to feel guilty.  
He didn't want to feel guilty. He wasn't the only one who had hurt the boy. He wasn't the only one who had neglected helping him, even when they knew they should have. He wasn't the only one who had turned a cold shoulder to the child and his plight, or turned him away whenever he needed help. He wasn't the only one who had quashed the little voice inside of his head that told him what he was doing wasn't right. No. He wasn't the only one; which is why Naruto turned to pranks and mischief. He wasn't the only one; which is why Naruto lived in such a run-down apartment. He wasn't the only one; which is why none of the instructors at the academy ever taught him anything... or taught him anything correctly, anyway. He wasn't the only one; which is why most of the other students at the academy treated Naruto like he was something less than human... and he shouldn't have ever been treated that way.

No. He wasn't the only one, but that was no excuse.

"Naruto!"

The boy turned to his elder with a sleepy, frustrated, look in his eyes, "Yeah, Iruka-sensei?"

"I'm going to the academy now. We're honestly not going to be covering anything new today, so you don't need to come. I want you to be finished cleaning off the paint by the end of class today though, because there's something I want to show you. If you finish before class ends, go ahead and wait at the gate, I may even buy you a bowl of ramen; but if you don't finish..." Iruka shrugged, inwardly grinning that it was so easy to catch the boy's interest.

"Alright!" And with that, and ramen, in mind – Naruto really got down to the work at hand.

**( ~ II ~ )**

Several hours had passed, and Naruto was now sitting on the swing hanging from the tree-branch just inside of the academy grounds, waiting for class to end for the day. The final bell of the day rang, and almost immediately, Naruto was approached by Kiba.

"What's up dog-breath?"

"Oh, shut it Naruto-baka! I'm not here to fight." Kiba growled.

Naruto turned to look at Kiba, wondering if this was really Kiba, or if it was someone practicing their transformation. When Akamaru yipped and then turned to look up at Kiba, Naruto knew it was really him. But Kiba not trying to fight him? Strange!

"Then what are you here for?"

"I want to know, what you think of Miyoi-chan." Kiba stood in front of Naruto, blocking his view of the building, which was just fine – it meant that he wouldn't have to see a few people he didn't want to see.

Naruto glanced up at at Kiba's face to try and guess at what he was thinking, but he got nothing. "Why?"

Kiba sputtered for a minute before regaining his composure, which meant that he growled, "Does it matter? Just answer me."

Naruto chuckled a little, "Yeah it matters..." and then he shrugged, "But not enough."  
"She's a good person, nicer than most." And again Naruto glanced up to Kiba's face to try to guess at what he was getting at, and again he got nothing.

"So you don't like her?" Kiba asked cautiously.

"Of course I like her! She's a good pers..." Oh! So that was what Kiba was getting at! Naruto grinned, "But that's not what you're asking is it?"

Kiba immediately went on the defensive and glared at Naruto, "Wha... What do you mean?"

Naruto laughed, "Yes, I like her, but not the way you do..."

Kiba planted his feet and growled at the blonde, "Naruto! What are you trying to get at?"

Naruto laughed again, and then stood up, seeing Iruka come out of the building. "Treat her right Kiba, otherwise I will kick your ass – she's a dear friend to me. Do you understand me?"

Kiba nodded, returned Naruto's grin, then smiled, "Yeah, I get ya, Naruto. Thanks!"

Naruto shook his head and rolled his eyes, Kiba had better treat her right, otherwise there would come a day when he and Kiba would have a little _chat_... and Kiba would not like it.

"Oi! Naruto! Get over here!" Iruka called and waved the boy over.

"Coming, Iruka-sensei!"

**( ~ II ~ )**

Naruto and Iruka pushed aside the cloth screen that covered the top half of the entrance to the small store, and we're immediately greeted by an ageing man wearing a white chef's apron and a hat. "Ahh, welcome to Ichiraku Ramen, what can I do for..." He then turned around and noticed who the two customers were and grinned, "Oh! Hey, Naruto. Hello, Iruka-san. What can I get for you two today?"

Iruka smiled at the older man and lifted two fingers, "Two bowls of Misu Ramen, please."

Teuchi returned the smile, "Two bowls of Misu Ramen! Coming right up!"

A short while, and a few empty bowls later, Iruka turned to Naruto. "Hey, Naruto. I want to tell you what we went over in class today..."

Naruto stopped eating for a moment before turning towards Iruka, "But... I thought you said we weren't going to be covering anything new..."

Iruka smiled at Naruto, "We didn't – we just told everyone when to show up for the exams, and what would be on them."

Naruto looked at Iruka's face, slightly confused. "The exams?" Then the realization hit him. "Wait! The genin exams?"

Iruka laughed as he rolled his eyes, "Yes, Naruto, the genin exams. You've only spent the last several years preparing for them..."

Naruto had been enthusiastic, up until the point, where Iruka mentioned the clones. "Hey, Iruka-sensei? Would you help me work on my clones?"

Iruka nodded, "Sure, Naruto – but the exam is only three days away, are you sure that clones are the only thing you need to practice?"

Naruto returned the nod, a grin plastered on his face, "Yeah! Miyoi-chan has been helping me with everything else – I think I've gotten pretty good at the rest of it too."

A young brown-haired woman stepped out from the 'employee only' area in the back and grinned at Naruto, "Miyoi-chan? Does Naruto-kun have a crush?"

Naruto just shook his head slowly, "Nah, she's just a good friend Ayame neechan." He glanced over to Ayame and grinned at her, "Besides. Kiba has a crush on her."

**( ~ II ~ )**

Naruto leaned against the tree, exhausted. He hadn't really done much direct clone training, but Iruka said that this would help. So Naruto would trust him... for now.

"Are you giving up already, Naruto?" Iruka asked. He too was leaning against a tree, heavy of breath himself. He had been going over chakra control exercises and the clone technique with Naruto for the last several hours, and was about ready to call it a day.

"I can keep going." Naruto paused for a moment as the breeze tossed his hair about his face, "Iruka-sensei?"

"Yeah, Naruto?"

"Why are you helping me?" Naruto didn't look over to Iruka, he just gazed straight ahead, his eyes glossy and unfocused.

Iruka hadn't expected that question and stumbled on his words for a few seconds, "Teachers are supposed to help their students, Naruto."

Naruto then looked at him, his face emotionless and blank. "Why did you wait until now to help me?"

_ "Because I hated who... because I hated __what__ I thought you were, Naruto. But, you're just a kid. Just a lonely kid, who's faced more in your short life than most people have in their entire lives..."_ But Iruka wasn't going to say that, "Because I thought you didn't really care about training, and all that you were doing was goofing off." It wasn't entirely a lie, and it was answer enough for the boy.

Naruto grinned, his trail of thought forgotten, "Will you continue to help me tomorrow, Iruka-sensei? You look bushed."

Iruka nodded, ready to go home for the night, "Sure, Naruto, why not. Maybe we'll even get you able to do a proper bunshin by the exam."

Naruto looked up at the fading light from the sun and sighed, "Maybe."

**( ~ II ~ )**

The next two days Naruto trained endlessly, driving himself to the point of collapse more than once. He wasn't about to give up when he was so close. This was his chance. This was his chance to be a ninja. This was his chance to finally be worth something. This was his chance to make everyone notice him. This was his chance to make something of his life, and to become the greatest ninja that the world had ever known.

**( ~ II ~ )**

Naruto grinned as he walked into the room and took a seat, almost everyone else was already there. Well. He took a look around and grinned sheepishly as the occupants glared at him. He was the last one to show up, and just in the nick of time too, because Iruka came in right behind him and closed the door.

"Alright everyone!" Iruka looked at the assembled students, "I've done all I that can to teach you, whether or not you pass is up to you!" Iruka paused for a moment, before nudging Naruto forwards, towards an empty chair. "Make me proud!"

Iruka then disappeared into a side room for a few minutes before returning. "Alright! First up is Aburame, Shino!"

Shino stood to his feet wordlessly, pushed his sunglasses back into position, and walked over to Iruka. Shino looked up at the older man, nodded, and then went into the other room – returning a few minutes later with his hitai-ate wrapped around his forehead.

"Next is Akimichi, Choji!"

Choji handed his bag of chips to Shikamaru, stood to his feet, tugged on his green jacket, took a deep breathe and then walked over to Iruka. Whether Shino was nervous, nobody could tell, but Choji? Choji was visibly nervous, his hands shaking as he tried to calm himself, taking breathe after deep breathe, but he had every right to be nervous. They all had every right to be nervous.

"Haruno, Sakura!"

Sakura took a deep breathe of her own and then followed Iruka into the other room, when she came back she had a grin on her face and a twinkle in her emerald eyes. She made a comment to Sasuke, which he ignored.

"Hidetoshi, Miyoi!"

Miyoi stood to her feet and muttered something under her breath. Brushing her hair out of her face she sent a smile to Kiba and Naruto before following Iruka into the other room, and when she came back there was giddy twinkle in her blue eyes as she retook her seat, her hitai-ate clutched tightly in her hands.

"Hyuuga, Hinata!"

The poor girl almost fainted when Iruka called her name, but she quickly got to her feet, her hands fidgeting nervously with the bottom of her creamy, beige colored, jacket.

"Inuzuka, Kiba!"

Kiba stood to his feet, possibly the most enthusiastic of any of the students there, and walked over to Iruka, a large grin on his face. A grin that only grew when he came out a minute later, his hitai-ate in his hand. He nodded in Miyoi's direction before returning to his seat.

"Kagiri, Seku!"

The boy stood to his feet slowly, brushing a hand through his silver-white hair. He huffed, stretched for a second, and then walked past Sasuke with a sneer that only the Uchiha could match. When he returned with his hitai-ate he glanced towards Sasuke, issuing a non-verbal challenge with his dark eyes. A challenge that the Uchiha was more than willing to accept.

"Nara, Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru groaned as he rose to his feet. He re-arranged his ponytail before walking lazily over to Iruka, a pronounced slouch in his stride, and a bored, almost put-upon expression on his face, like this was messing with his afternoon nap... which it probably was.

"Raiyune, Akata!"

The girl rose to her feet, and walked over to Iruka. She said something so quietly that Iruka was probably the only other person to hear her. He blushed, and she laughed. Her small studded earrings reflected the light from the other room as she followed Iruka inside.

"Uchiha, Sasuke!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes as he stood to his feet, ignoring the comments from his fan-club. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and then entered the room, not saying anything to Iruka as he passed. He glanced at Seku as he returned, a silent reply to his prior challenge. The challenge had been met. Sasuke's face had the smuggest expression anyone had ever seen on his face as he took his seat.

"Alright! Uzumaki, Naruto! You're up brat, let's go!" Iruka smiled at the boy and waved him over.

Naruto grinned and stood to his feet, amazed that he was able to stand at all, his feet felt so much more like a liquid than a solid at the moment. He swallowed the lump in his throat and grinned at Iruka, "Don't worry, Iruka-sensei, I've got this!" He had tried to sound confident, but to him it didn't sound as confident as he had wanted it to.

"I hope so, Naruto!" Iruka said seriously as he returned the grin, "Because if not, then the last three days that I just spent with you was a waste – don't mess up, alright?"

Naruto could only manage a nervous smile as he let Iruka guide him into the room. _"What is Iruka trying to do? Adding more pressure right now isn't going to help anything!"_

A white haired man with an all too sweet smile looked Naruto over before nodding, "Alright..." He looked down at the clipboard in his hands, "Uzumaki, Naruto – first off, let's see your aim." He then waved his hand towards a target dummy, and expected Naruto to miss most, if not all, of the shots. His eyes widened in surprise when all thirty of the shuriken and kunai hit the target dead center.

"Good job..." He looked over to Iruka who only shrugged, Iruka had said that this kid had been training really hard recently – but the reports of what he could do were abysmal. They were worse than that even. But here this kid was, and even if he had been training really hard over the last month he shouldn't have... he couldn't have, improved that much!

"Now, we need to see your kawarimi technique..."

Naruto grimaced but nodded his head. He took a quick stock of the room and saw a free chair – he could switch with that. When he wondered why they weren't doing anything it hit him... they weren't going to throw stuff at him like they did in practice. He then switched with the chair, and a few seconds later, switched back.

Iruka shook his head and sighed his hand covering his face as he massaged his temples, it never took Naruto that long to do it during practice, what was wrong with the kid?

The white-haired instructor grimaced, as if he had just bitten down on something with an unpleasant taste, "Ummm... Naruto, you need to be able to do it faster than that – on the battlefield you won't have that much time..."

Naruto laughed nervously, "I can do it a lot faster than that ... I was just waiting for you to throw something at me..."

"Why would I throw something at you Naruto?"

Naruto looked at the white haired man in front of him and shrugged, "Well..." he looked to Iruka, "That's always what the instructors did during practice..."

The white haired man rolled his eyes and sighed, "Alright. How about your hengen technique?"

Iruka butted in, "Now, Naruto." Iruka glared at the boy, "This is serious, no fooling around like you usually do." Iruka, of course, knew all too well that Naruto was good, very good, with his transformations.

Naruto nodded at Iruka and closed his eyes, thinking about exactly what he wanted to transform into. Akamaru crossed his mind. He opened his eyes, formed the seal, then looked up at Iruka from the floor, wagging his tail behind him, his tongue hanging out from his mouth. A few moments later he transformed back and grinned at Iruka.

Iruka nodded, then closed his eyes, only one skill left to test. The clone. He had been watching Naruto work so hard over the last few days trying to get that skill mastered. Iruka had seen Naruto fail at least a million times, but Naruto had succeded. He silently hoped that Naruto would succeed again.

"Alright – last thing. How's your bunshin?"

Naruto grinned, all of his hard work was about to pay off. He made the hand sign and then glanced to his left... then down. Lying on the floor was the palest, most sickly, and malformed clone any of them had ever seen.

The white haired chunin almost looked sick, but there was a queer look in his eyes, and what could almost be called a smile on his face, as he looked at the pathetic clone.

Iruka shook his head – it looked like all of that work had been worthless after all. "Naruto! You fail!"

Naruto couldn't believe what he had just heard. He knew, of course, what the words meant, but his mind didn't want to believe them. He didn't want to believe that all of his hard work over the last few weeks was for nothing. He didn't want to believe that he had let Iruka down. He didn't want to believe that he had failed. He didn't want to believe all the words that he had been told, time and time and time again, were true. He didn't want to believe, so he did the only thing he could think to do, he ran.

He burst back into the room where everyone else was waiting. He heard Iruka call for Ino, but he didn't care. He didn't want to go take a seat. He didn't want to just sit there, and know that everyone would see that he was the only one that didn't have a hitai-ate. He didn't want to just sit there, wallowing in his own self-pity while he watched everyone else gather together, congratulating each other. He didn't want to just sit there and see everyone else happy, and smiling – preparing to take the next step in their lives, while he was being left behind once again. He didn't want to just sit there and be forgotten.

Naruto tore open the door to the hallway and kept on running, disappearing so quickly that no one could stop him.

**( ~ II ~ )**

Kiba had always known that Naruto wasn't the best at most of the techniques they practiced at school... but he had always been _just _good enough to get by. Year after year, somehow, Naruto managed to get, just enough, points in the tests to graduate to the next year, and not be held back. Year after year he managed... until this year.

Shino, Shikamaru, and Choji were all surprised. They hadn't expected Naruto to pass with flying colors, but they had expected him to pass. When they saw him tear out of the room they were almost worried about him, but when Iruka called Ino, and made no move to go after him they just shook their heads.

_ "What a drag..."_

Sakura felt bad about how happy she felt when she saw Naruto fail, but she quickly squashed the pity bug and turned her attention back to Sasuke, who was watching the door Naruto had disappeared down. _"Why does he care about that baka...?"_ Sakura thought with ire as she scooted a little closer to her _Sasuke-kun_.

Miyoi and Hinata watched Naruto go, each girl wondered if he was okay, each girl wondered if she should go after him, and each girl, for her own reasons, didn't.

Ino honestly hadn't expected much out of the other blonde, he had always been the troublemaker in class, and he always managed to barely squeak by... but... she had never wanted him to fail. She had never really cared, to be honest, but she had never wanted him to fail. She just sighed and stood to her feet as she was called into the other room, she could worry about Naruto later. She had three much more important things to worry about first. One being what she'd do to that Sakura-teme once she got back into the room, nobody was allowed to touch her sasuke-kun, except her of course. Two being her own test. Three being worrying about which team she'd get placed on, she hoped it was with her Sasuke-kun.

**Chapter End**

Alright! Chapter 2 is finished and posted! ( September 25, 2010 )

Enjoy!

Author's Notes: Warning - please don't expect a chapter a day. It's the weekend, and I don't have any papers due.

As always, I'm open to criticism and advice.

~ The Arms of Blood


	3. The Deceiver, and the Deceived

**The Nine Tails of the Heart**

**( ~ III ~ )**

_**Chapter Three: The Deceiver, and the Deceived**_

Naruto wasn't sure how many more hours had passed as he sat on the swing and watched the world pass him by. Some time ago everyone had come out of the building, and they were talking with their families. They all looked so happy. He was so envious of them. So envious of their ability to smile and to laugh.

He had tried so hard, practicing day after day after day. Miyoi and Iruka had helped him so much, but... it wasn't enough. What was he going to do now? What could he do now? He hung his head in defeat and held back the tears. He wouldn't cry in front of anyone else. After he got home, he'd probably cry himself to sleep. Then tomorrow... he'd decide what to do with the rest of his life tomorrow...

**( ~ III ~ )**

Naruto sat on the edge of the balcony that overlooked the city, just as the sun was setting behind the mountains. He wasn't sure what he was going to do with his life. He wasn't sure what he could do with his life...

The white haired chunin came up to Naruto and sighed, taking a seat right next to him, "Iruka-sensei isn't trying to be mean to you, Naruto."

Naruto shuddered, as the wind tossed his hair about his face, and repressed a sob, "Then why only me? Why am I the only one that failed? Especially when I have been trying so hard..."

"You have to understand, Naruto, that he wants you to become strong. He can relate to you, since neither of you have your parents. He just wants to see you grow up into being a fine young man."

Naruto clenched his eyes shut and wiped a tear from his face, he would not start crying now. "But I really wanted to graduate. I tried so hard!"

He turned to glance at the boy, whose face was turned away from him, "You really wanted to pass... didn't you? You really wanted to be a shinobi..."

Naruto chuckled mockingly, "You have no idea how much I wanted it..."

He smirked, _"This is almost too easy! He's already laid the groundwork and built most of the trap that he's going to catch himself in..." _He placed as much concern in his voice and on his face as he could and placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Umm... well... you could always... no. I shouldn't say that. Forget I said anything."

Naruto looked up at him with a skeptical, yet questioning, and hopeful look on his face, "I could always do what?"

He suppressed a grin, _"Perfect!"_ and then shrugged, almost as if weighing if he should say it or not... in the end he decided on saying it. "Well... graduating from the academy isn't the only way to become a genin..."

Naruto didn't even take a moment to think, he just asked, "What would I have to do?"

He shook his head, "No. I'm sorry. I really shouldn't have said anything. I should go." He stood up and was prepared to walk away. Everything, now, would depend on the boy.

"You can't just do that!" Naruto growled, "You can't just tell someone there's hope, and then squash it before they have a chance to choose! What kind of a heartless bastard are you?"

He stopped and froze _"More of a heartless bastard than you think... much more than you think..."_ and a second later he turned back to the boy and smiled "I guess I have no choice but to tell you then, huh?" He sighed and then looked down at Naruto's expectant face. "I'll let you in on a big secret..."

**( ~ III ~ )**

Naruto hadn't been a hundred percent of all the details that Mizuki had told him, but he did know one thing. All he had to do was steal a scroll, and learn a jutsu from it before he got caught. That couldn't be too hard could it? He waited for the perfect moment to strike, and he finally saw it. The guards had changed shifts just a few minutes ago, and as soon as they let down their guard he was on them, knocked them out, had the scroll, and was off. It took them another few minutes before either of the guards stirred, and another few moments before they realized exactly what had happened.

A few minutes later Naruto was sitting in the clearing, fascinated, and yes, slightly daunted, by everything that was on the scroll. He had this strange feeling in his gut, but he ignored the feeling, telling himself that it was just the thrill and the excitement. This was, after all, just like he imagined a mission would be. Protect the secret document from enemy shinobi, and get the information to where it needed to go.

**( ~ III ~ )**

Iruka awoke to banging on his door, and when he opened it, Mizuki was standing there, out of breath. "Hokage-sama needs you, immediately! I heard that Naruto... he... he stole the scroll of sealing!"

Iruka had expected, of course, that Naruto had gotten in trouble... but he hadn't expected anything like that, "I'll be right there!"

**( ~ III ~ )**

By the time Iruka got to where the Hokage was, there was a small mob of chunin. He couldn't pick out everything that was being said, but even if he could, he probably wouldn't have cared. He was waiting for the order to go after Naruto... and as soon as the order came, everyone who had assembled before the Hokage was gone. They would scour the village, and as soon as they found Naruto. He would have a lot to answer for.

Iruka growled, he wasn't in this clearing either. He had been searching for a good hour, and he couldn't find him. He wasn't by the lake. He wasn't anywhere near his apartment. He wasn't by the Hokage Mountain. _"Damn it! Naruto! How hard can it be to find one kid! What happened to you, Naruto? Why'd you do it?"_ There was only one place left to look.

Another half hour had passed before he found Naruto, sitting deep in the forest – a great deal deeper than where he had been practicing, and helping Naruto with his bunshin. "Hey you, Naruto!"

Naruto looked up at Iruka and grinned, rubbing the back of his head with a free hand and laughing. The scroll was tied to his back, "Looks like you found me, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto looked at the older man, and his grin got wider, "But I did it, I can prove it too! I've been practicing this entire time!"

Iruka was kind of shocked, he had been wondering what had been going through Naruto's mind, but this... he hadn't thought of this... _"He's been practicing? He's been practicing until he's become this dirty and exhausted?"_ and then Iruka remembered how hard Naruto had pushed himself when he was helping him with the bunshin. Yes, this was exactly how hard Naruto pushed himself.

"Watch, Iruka-sensei! Let me show you! I can do it! I can do it! And once I do it you're going to let me graduate!" Naruto was almost jumping up and down with joy and excitement, despite looking exhausted. "It is true that I can graduate if I can do one of the jutsu here right? Well, I can! Let me show you!"

"What!" Iruka couldn't believe what he had just heard, "Who told you that?"

"Why? Mizuki-sensei did! He told me about the scroll and..."

Iruka cut Naruto short as he tossed the boy out of the way. His instincts had saved, perhaps, both their lives... for the moment. A moment later his body felt it. He had escaped without any serious wounds, but he hadn't gotten out of the way fast enough, and there were several kunai sticking out of his arms and legs. Iruka glared up at Mizuki, who was sitting on a tree branch high above them, _"Damn that bastard!"_

From his perch, Mizuki called down to the boy, "Naruto! Give me the scroll!"

Naruto couldn't figure out what was going on, he glanced back and forth from Iruka to Mizuki, from Iruka to Mizuki. "Wha... wait... what... what's going on?"

Iruka clenched his teeth as he pulled the kunai from his leg, and tossed it to the ground in front of him. He wasn't a hundred percent sure of what was going on, but he had a fair enough idea. "Naruto! Never let Mizuki have that scroll! The first Hokage sealed away that object, it contains dangerous and forbidden ninjutsu! Mizuki was just using you to get it for himself!"

Mizuki just started laughing, "Naruto, there's no need to listen to him! He's only afraid of you holding that scroll because..."

"Shut up Mizuki!" Iruka then turned to Naruto, "Damn it! Naruto, don't let him trick you!"

"You're in no position to talk, Iruka!" Mizuki continued laughing, "I will tell you the truth, Naruto!"

"Mizuki! What are you doing! Don't do that!"

Mizuki just ignored Iruka and glared down at Naruto, feeding off of the confusion on the boy's face, "Twleve years ago, there was an... incident... and a law was created."

"Mizuki! Stop it! Damn you!"

"A law that, Naruto, everyone knows but you." Mizuki grinned, the boy's confusion was bordering pure panic, _ "Ahh, this is too perfect, almost too perfect!"_

"Damn you! Mizuki! He's not supposed to know about that!"

Mizuki just laughed again, shaking his head, "Poor Naruto! See, even now they try to hide it from you!"

"Wha... what... what's the law?" Naruto chocked out, unsure of whom to trust, unsure of whether the ground beneath him would swallow him up at any moment.

Mizuki glared at Naruto, "The law forbids anyone from revealing that you, Naruto, are actually the demon spirit fox! You are the demon, Kyuubinokitsune, that attacked the village and killed Iruka's parents twelve years ago!"

Iruka pulled forward, ripping his shoulder, as he tore free from the last kunai that held him, "Stop it!"

Naruto couldn't breathe, the forest was closing in on him, putting pressure on his tenuous hold to sanity.

Mizuki continued to speak, unimpeded "Everyone in the village has been deceiving you ever since you were a child, Naruto! Didn't you find it strange? Didn't you ever question why everyone hated you so much? Didn't you wonder why you were never allowed to become a genin?"

With those words everything fell into place, so many riddles that Naruto never could solve, suddenly had answers, so many puzzles now had solutions. He couldn't hold the cap on the bottle of his emotions any more, "No! Shut up! Stop talking! Shut up!"

Mizuki smiled, "Nobody accepts you Naruto! Nobody will ever accept you Naruto! That's why everyone hates you so much! That's why Iruka never let you pass the test! That's why he hates you Naruto! Because you killed his parents!"

Iruka couldn't stand the pain, and it wasn't the physical pain that was eating at him. He remembered, just a few months ago, how he had been talking to the Hokage, who was telling him about why he shouldn't be mad with Naruto for misbehaving. About how he grew up without the love of parents. About how everyone avoided him. About why he misbehaved, just to get attention and acknowledgement, because he couldn't think of any other way to get it. About how Naruto pretended to be tough, but how he was really, truly, hurting inside.

Mizuki grinned and laughed as he span a giant shuriken around his hand, "It's time for you to die!"

Naruto started to scramble away, and Iruka knew he wouldn't survive getting hit, and he wouldn't get out of the way in time... "Naruto! Get down!"

Naruto collapsed and covered his head with his hands, shaking uncontrollably. He only dared open his eyes when he felt blood splatter onto his hands and neck. Iruka was using his body as a shelter, and as his face scrunched up in pain, and blood dripped from his mouth onto Naruto's face, Naruto didn't understand anymore. The answers to the riddles didn't make sense, and the solutions to the puzzles weren't right.

"W... why? Iruka-sensei?"

"Be... because... you... you and I... Naruto... we... we're the same..." Iruka grimaced as another wave of pain racked his body, "After my parents died... nobody... nobody ever paid attention to me... or helped me..." He bit back the pain, he had to say this now, otherwise, he'd never be able to say it. "I tried being a good student in school, but no one ever seemed to notice... so I started doing stupid things and acting up because I wanted people to notice me... It was so hard... and it hurt so much..." He hadn't even realized he'd been crying until he saw his tears fall onto Naruto's face. "You felt so lonely... and you suffered inside... and I'm... I'm sorry... Naruto... if I... if I had been... maybe you wouldn't have suffered... so much..."

Mizuki laughed, "Why listen to him now, Naruto? He's always hated you! You killed his parents! He only saying all of that to get the scroll back!"

Naruto didn't want to believe Mizuki, a part of him wanted to reach out to Iruka, a part of him wanted to say that Mizuki was lying, a part of him wanted to stand up and tell Mizuki that there was no way in hell he was going to believe him... but he couldn't... he had been hurt one too many times because he had trusted someone. He had been hurt one to many times because he had believed someone. No matter what he wanted to believe, a life time of scars was just too much – and he didn't want another one – and with that thought in mind he ran. Leaving Mizuki. Leaving Iruka. Leaving everything, behind.

Mizuki jumped from the tree and landed next to Iruka's prone form, "He's not someone to change his mind so easily Iruka. You should know that. He's going to use that scroll to take revenge on the village. Didn't you see his eyes, Iruka? Those are the eyes of a demon."

Iruka yanked the shuriken out of his back and stood to his feet, his breathing heavy, and his body weak. He knew he wouldn't be able to defeat Mizuki, not in his current condition... but he could give Naruto another minute to get farther away. Yes, he could give Naruto at least another minute. "Naruto... no... he's... he's not a demon!"

Mizuki shrugged, "Hmph... all I want is to kill Naruto, and take the scroll. I can deal with you later, Iruka."

**( ~ III ~ )**

Iruka caught a glimpse of Naruto's blonde hair, and orange jacket and closed the spare distance quickly, coming up alongside Naruto, "Naruto! Everything that Mizuki said was a lie! Give me the scroll!" He didn't have time to respond. Naruto's only response was to growl and throw himself at the man, ramming his fist into his gut. He got to his feet and glared at Naruto, "How... how did you know?" A small cloud of smoke concealed Iruka's face for a moment as the hengen was released.

Naruto began to laugh as he slumped back against a tree, "I knew you weren't Iruka because..." Another small cloud of smoke, as another hengen was released, "I am Iruka."

Mizuki growled at Iruka, maybe he should have spared the minute and killed him – well, he wouldn't make that mistake twice. But still, he wanted to know, "Why are you protecting Naruto? What's in it for you?"

Iruka glared up at Mizuki and wondered, for a moment, how far away Naruto was, and hoping that Naruto was using the time he was buying him well. Naruto needed to get as far away from Mizuki as he could at the moment. "I'm not about to let you get that scroll, Mizuki..."

Mizuki laughed, "You are an idiot, Iruka! Anyone can do whatever they want if they have that scroll! What reason do you have to think that the demon won't take advantage of that power and get revenge on the people that have caused him so much pain?"

Naruto, was cowering behind a nearby tree, trying to regain some semblance of his world. Everything had been shaken apart in a matter of minutes, and he didn't know where he stood anymore. And listening to Iruka and Mizuki wasn't helping, but as he thought over what Iruka had said earlier, he heard Iruka's next words "That's true..." and Naruto could feel another scar opening up. He clenched his eyes shut tightly together to keep from crying. So everything that Iruka had said before, it was just a lie, all he had really wanted was the scroll after all... "But Naruto's not a demon... and he would have succeeded at the bunshin had you not used that genjutsu on his clone..."

Mizuki laughed, "So you saw that did you? You wouldn't have actually given Naruto a hitai-ate would you? You wouldn't have actually let him become a genin!"

"No..." Iruka shook his head, "I wouldn't have... but..." He looked up at the forest canopy overhead and sighed, he was sure he was going to die here, but at least he was buying Naruto time, "He's a great kid, and he always gives whatever he's doing all that he's got. He knows what it means to suffer and to be in pain, but he doesn't try to take it out on other people... even though no one accepts him for who he is. True, he's a little clumsy at times, but he deserves to be a ninja. He is not a demon, Mizuki, no matter what you say."

Mizuki snorted as he pulled another giant shuriken off of his back, "You sicken me, Iruka! Prepare to die!"

Iruka closed his eyes and took a deep breathe, _"I guess this is it for me then, huh? I'll be seeing you soon... mom, dad..."_ Iruka opened his eyes when he heard Mizuki grunt in pain. Naruto was standing in front of him, the scroll standing right next to him.

Mizuki laughed as he stood to his feet, rubbing his jaw with the back of his hand, "You caught me off guard there, freak, it won't happen again." Mizuki put as much venom behind his words as he could, but he grinned when he noticed the scroll, "Thanks for bringing the scroll, by the way, saves me the trouble of having to hunt it down."

Naruto just glared at Mizuki, entirely ignoring everything that he had just said, "If you ever lay a hand on Iruka-sensei... I'll kill you!"

Mizuki growled at Naruto, "Shut up! I can kill a kid like you with one attack!"

Naruto glared daggers at Mizuki, letting out some of the hatred he had bottled up over the years, "Why don't you try then?" When Mizuki charged, Naruto brought his hands together, like he had been practicing to do, "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Neither Mizuki or Iruka could believe how many shadow clones there were, several hundred at least.

"Aren't you going to attack me? No? Alright then, I'll attack you!"

**( ~ III ~ )**

The sun was just beginning to rise, and the first rays were shining through the forest canopy, when Iruka finally managed to limp over to where Naruto was standing. "Naruto..." When Naruto turned towards him, he realized that Naruto was still emotionally shaken, and he had every reason to be, and he would probably continue to be for the next several days. "I'd like to congratulate you," He pulled the boy into a hug before he could protest, "on your graduation..."

And with those words, Naruto broke down into tears.

**Chapter End**

Alright! Chapter 3 is finished (September 26, 2010)

Enjoy!

Author's Notes:

As always, I'm open to criticism and advice.

~ The Arms of Blood


	4. Assignation

**The Nine Tails of the Heart**

**( ~ IV ~ )**

_**Chapter Four: Assignation**_

Sarutobi sighed before stamping another form and adding it to the stack of 'completed' documents. The team assignments had been delayed a few days, because Iruka needed some bed rest, and because he had to rearrange the teams. He honestly didn't understand why he had to do it. The Hokage had enough work as is... and this damned boy was not making anything any easier. "Why aren't you taking this seriously, Naruto? The village takes the Ninja Registration Form very seriously, and so should you!" He could almost swear, this boy was just so damned frustrating...

The door flew open and in charged a boy, shouting something or the other about being the Fifth Hokage. He had a yellow t-shirt and grey shorts that went just past his knee. Around his neck was was a blue scarf that was easily seven times too long and trailed behind him. Just as he neared Sarutobi, a shuriken in hand, ready to strike... he tripped... on nothing - and fell flat on his face.

Naruto didn't know how to react. He just watched, dumbfounded, as the boy rolled around on the floor complaining about the pain.

Sarutobi, on the other hand, knew exactly how to react - he didn't. This wasn't the first time the boy had tried to attack him. _"He's persistent at least..."_

The boy got to his feet and quickly scanned the room for something to blame, and when his eyes landed on Naruto he glared. A glare that Naruto was only all to glad to return. "You!" The boy accused, pointing a finger at Naruto, "You did this to me!"

Naruto sighed, he had no idea what this kid was thinking. He was sitting down, and slouched over, and this kid still wasn't at eye level. The poor boy hadn't even lost all of his baby teeth yet...  
Naruto knew he shouldn't punch the kid, and he wasn't going to... but he wanted to. Oh! How he wanted to. So he settled for second best.  
Grabbing a fistful of the kid's shirt Naruto lifted him up to eye level, "You tripped all by yourself, baka-bozu! I didn't do a thing to you. Hell, I couldn't have done a thing to you, you were on the other side of the room..."

"Let go of the honorable grandson!"

Naruto glanced over and saw a man dressed all in black. Black shirts, pants, headband, and sunglasses. He was blabbing on and on about something about a grandson and something about Sarutobi.

The kid got Naruto's attention again when he opened his mouth. "What's the matter blondie? Weren't you going to hit me? Can't do it, just 'cause I'm the Hokage's grandson, huh?" The boy taunted, a devilish smirk on his face.

Naruto hadn't planned on hitting the boy, but as soon as he started squirming, he changed his plans. "Shut up, Baka! I wouldn't even care if you were his grandmother!" And with those words he smacked his fist over the back of the poor kid's head, as hard as he thought was appropriate. When Naruto finally had the sense to look up (he had just attacked Sarutobi's grandson... right in front of the man, after all), was surprised to see that Sarutobi had an amazingly disinterested look on his face. The man in black, however, looked horrified.

**( ~ IV ~ )**

Sarutobi sighed, listening to Ebisu give Konohamaru some lecture or the other about shortcuts to becoming the Fifth Hokage... _"There are no shortcuts, Ebisu. There aren't any shortcuts for me, there aren't any shortcuts for you, and there definitely aren't any shortcuts on the path to becoming the Hokage..."_ Sometime during the lecture, Konohamaru had taken off after Naruto, and Ebisu hadn't noticed. Sarutobi just rolled his eyes, _"Kami-sama? Why me?"_

**( ~ IV ~ )**

Naruto had been prepared to forgive the brat, just as long as he never had to see him again, but when the boy started following... Naruto rolled his eyes and corrected himself, when the boy started stalking him, he wasn't going to forgive so easily. "Your camoflauge is pathetic baka-bozu! Stop following me around!"

"So you noticed huh? I suspected as much from such a formidable opponent!" The boy stormed up to Naruto and glared at him for a moment before the glare turned into a grin, "I give you permission to make me into your apprentice!"

"No! Now, beat it, and leave me alone!" Naruto turned to walk away, ready to continue ignoring the brat.

"Please! Just say yes, boss!"

Naruto froze, and looked back over his shoulder at the boy, "What did you call me?"

The boy stuttered for a second, "Boss."

Naruto couldn't help it, a grin spread across his face, isn't this one of the things he had always wanted? Recognition. "Well..." Naruto grinned devilishly down at his 'apprentice', "I guess I have no choice..."

**( ~ IV ~ )**

Iruka closed the door that led back inside behind him and looked over to Sarutobi, "Hokage-sama! I wanted to know, did Naruto resubmit the form?"

Sarutobi didn't bother turning around to look at Iruka, he just gazed up at the faces on the mountain-side. "Yes. He did."

"That's good." Iruka laughed, "When I was lecturing to him the other night he told me he would make everyone accept him now that he's a shinobi. He was so happy."

Sarutobi sighed, "It's not going to be that easy for Naruto to realize his dream..." He turned to face Iruka, he hadn't felt this old in a long time, not since Minato passed away. "You know that only the villagers who fought against Kyuubi know that it is sealed inside of Naruto..."

Iruka nodded his head, not sure what Sarutobi was trying to explain.

"I ruled that no one should speak about that incident – and those that have broken that law, I have punished harshly. Now, the children know almost nothing about that incident... but that wasn't enough..." Sarutobi turned back to face the mountain again and looked up at the image of the Fourth Hokage, "Before he sealed the monster and died, he told me that his last wish was for the villagers to regard Naruto as a hero... but we both know that's not what happened."

Iruka bowed his head in shame, he had, after all, been a part of the problem.

"Without Naruto... the village probably would have been destroyed entirely. He saved us. He saved all of us, and... the villagers don't see him like that. Some even believe that he is Kyuubi, trapped in a child's body. Children learn what is acceptable and what isn't acceptable from their parents, and..." Sarutobi shuddered as the wind picked up a little, but is wasn't the wind that made him shiver, it wasn't the air that made him cold, "Little by little, the children picked up the attitude of their parents, treating Naruto like he wasn't even human... like he was something less." Sarutobi turned to face Iruka once more, "Do you know?"

"Do I know what, Hokage-sama?"

"When someone is hated, and people refuse to acknowledge their existence, they can see it in the eyes of the people around him..."

**( ~ IV ~ )**

He had split ways with Konohamaru a few hours after having met the kid. It was for the best. He was to be assigned a team soon, tomorrow actually, and he couldn't have a little kid attached to his heels. He had made a friend though, so he didn't have any regrets about the day. And besides, he wanted to get some more practice in before he had to show up for the team assignments... and he didn't want that little brat to pick up any of his training techniques. Not that he really had any...

**( ~ IV ~ )**

Iruka closed and locked the door behind him – it had been a long day, and tomorrow promised to be another long one. _"Letting the kids... no... they're not children anymore are they?"_ Iruka chuckled as he sank into the chair in front of his desk, _"They might still be young, but they're adults now..."_ He shook his head and and took a deep breathe before looking over the team assignments for tomorrow. He was honestly surprised at how Hokage-sama had chosen to form the teams. As he dragged his finger down the rows he noticed a few pairings he had expected, but most of them... when Sarutobi had told him that he had made some heavy revisions... he hadn't been kidding.

Iruka knew exactly what would be waiting for him tomorrow – ninja. Thirty very angry genin... and after they got through with him, he'd have several frustrated jonin to deal with. _"Life is __so_ _not fair!"_

Iruka moaned as he let his forehead fall against the table, "They are going to kill me..."

**( ~ IV ~ )**

Naruto leaned against the door, out of breathe, he honestly hadn't expected that much time to pass, or that the training would take so much out of him. He, of course, had used shadow clones to spar against, which partially accounted for his physical exhaustion, but still, he couldn't ever remember a time when he was so sore. It felt like every muscle in his body was aching.  
He idly wondered what was going to happen when he showed up at the academy tomorrow. _"All of the other kids will probably wonder why I'm there... since I didn't pass the stupid test like the rest of them did. I wonder if any of them will actually be glad that I became a ninja too..."_ Naruto shook the 'foolish' thoughts out of his head, _"No. Of course not. I doubt a single person will be glad I pass..."_ Naruto stopped himself from finishing that thought, _"That's not true... Miyoi-chan... she'll be happy I passed too. Won't she?"_ Naruto wasn't as sure about that as he'd like to be though. She hadn't come to see him for the last few days. She was a kunoichi now, and her family was probably demanding all of her time, they had every right to. It didn't stop the doubt or the pain though. She was probably the closest thing he had ever had to a real friend while at the academy, and her not stopping by to check on him... it almost made him think that she really didn't care. _"No! She wouldn't have spent those weeks after class helping me if she didn't care... would she have?"  
_Naruto shot to his feet, and growled in frustration at his train of thought, and at his muscles – which had protested the sharp movement. He would find out, tomorrow, for sure, if she, or anyone, was glad to see him. But for now, he would not doubt.  
And as he lay in bed, gently lulled to sleep by the darkness that surrounded his body, a last thought crossed his mind. _"I guess... I'll find out... tomorrow..."_

**( ~ IV ~ )**

_The next morning. In the academy classroom._

Naruto wasn't the first one in the room, but no one even bothered to look up at him when he entered. He was accustomed to that sort of treatment, but still, it hurt.  
The one person he was looking for, though, wasn't there, so he just shrugged, took a seat, and then settled in to wait.  
He hadn't even realized he'd spaced out until something blocked his vision. It was Kiba. _"So, what, he wants to fight now?"_

Kiba growled at Naruto for a second, it looked like he was about to say something, but when Iruka came into the classroom he backed away from the blonde and went to his own seat.

"Hey, Iruka-sensei! What's Naruto-baka doing here, I thought this orientation was only for those of us who passed!"

Iruka didn't even have a chance to reply before Naruto was on his feet, glaring at the boy that had opened his mouth.

"I did pass! Pay attention..." He rapped a knuckle against the metal plate of his hitai-ate, before retaking his seat, and mumbling beneath his breathe about certain pranks that could be pulled on certain idiots.

Most of the class wasn't too thrilled that Naruto had passed, but there were a few people who had a smile on their face.

_"So... Naruto-kun... you passed after all... I... I hope we get to be together..." _She blushed,_ "On the same team..." _

_"I'm glad you passed Naruto-san. Because if you hadn't, especially after all those hours after school that I helped you, I would have kicked your ass..."_

_"Hahaha, since we're both ninja... we have more of an excuse to fight. We'll see who's truly stronger, Naruto-baka!"_

Iruka shook his head and sent a gaze skyward, almost as if asking _"Kami-sama... why me?"_  
"Alright class, I have the team assignments..." He raised a hand to shush the children before they started talking, "and before anyone makes a complaint, realize that these teams were chosen by Hokage-sama himself... if you have a problem with them, go talk to him!" When everyone remained silent, and most of the children looked as though they were too scared to even breathe, Iruka began pronouncing the teams.

"And Squad 7 will be: Haruno, Sakura!" A short pause, "Kagiri, Seku!"

Seku was praying against hope that the third name wasn't Sasuke.  
Sakura was chanting Sasuke's name inside of her head, while cursing her luck for getting Seku... but at least she hadn't gotten Naruto...

"And... " Another short pause, "Naruto!"

Sakura collapsed in her chair, on the verge of tears.

"Get your feet off of the desk! I don't care if this is your last day here, the rules still apply!" Iruka glared at Naruto until the boy's feet were back on the ground, he then rolled his eyes, shook his head and then sent another glare at Naruto, "Anyway... as I was about to say, before I got interrupted..." Another quick glance at Naruto to make sure he was behaving, "Squad 7: Haruno, Sakura! Kagiri, Seku! And! Uchiha, Sasuke!"

Sakura squealed with delight, and Seku just groaned in frustration.

Seku groaned, those were the last two people he wanted to be stuck with... he, honestly, would have preferred Naruto.

Iruka shook his head, and waited for Sakura's manic laughter to fade to quiet snickering before he continued, "And Squad 8 will be: Aburame, Shino! Uzumaki, Naruto! And! Yamanaka, Ino!"

It was Ino's turn to groan in frustration. Not only did she not get to be on Sasuke's team, but her rival, Sakura, was on Sasuke's team and she was on a team with Naruto...

_"It looks like I won't be on a team with N... Naruto-k... kun..."_ She sighed, but quickly snapped to attention when she heard her name called, "Y... yes?"

"... Nara, Shikamaru! And! Raiyune, Akata!" Iruka paused for a few moments before continuing, "And Squad 10! Choji, Akimichi! Hidetoshi, Miyoi! And! Inuzuka, Kiba!"

Kiba let out a loud whoop as he shot to his feet. Apparently he was happy about one of the people on his team... and it probably wasn't Choji that he was so excited about being on a team with.

**Chapter End**

Alright! Chapter 4 is finished (September 26th, 2010) - (Revision was finished on September 27th, 2010)

Enjoy!

Author's Notes:  
I must apologize for the poor quality of the first version of this chapter 4 (the 9/26 version). I knew it was a bland chapter as I was writing it, and I posted it anyway. I shouldn't have, but I did, and I was called on it - by more than one person. And to those of you that called me on the bland chapter, you know who you are, I would like to say thank you.  
And to everyone, I would like to say that I hope this version (9/27) is a much more enjoyable reading experience.

This story does not have a beta reader ( I forgot to put that little tidbit of information in the chapter 2 and 3 author's notes... I believe)

As always, I'm open to criticism and advice.

~ The Arms of Blood


	5. Genjutsu: A Painful Revelation!

**The Nine Tails of the Heart**

**********( ~ IV ~ )_( ~ V ~ )_( ~ VI ~ )**

_**Chapter Five: Genjutsu: A Painful Revelation!**_

Iruka had finished the squad assignment announcements and then gave a little speech of his own. Naruto honestly didn't think anyone had really listened to it, they were all to excited about being genin now, about the only thing he remembered about the entire thing was Iruka saying that he wanted all of them to make him proud, they were, after all, ninja now.

Iruka released all of the students for lunch break, their jonin instructors would be picking up their teams afterwards. He on the other hand, had more paperwork to do. He sighed and then looked at the stack of papers, and blinked _"Holy hokage! The stack of papers just grew!"_

**( ~ V ~ )**

Naruto caught a glimpse of the other blonde walking around the corner then ran to catch up, "Hey, Ino-san!"

Ino turned to glare at the boy, "What do you want Naruto-baka?"

"I thought," Naruto shrugged, "Since we were on the same team we should have lunch together... but I haven't seen Shino to ask him yet..."

She would have put a dent in his face with her fist had he not mentioned Shino when he did, he was making it sound too much like a date, and she would not date Naruto... ever.

**( ~ V ~ )**

She saw Naruto talking to Ino and grinned, she was really happy that he had passed, and even though they weren't on the same team, she was confident that he would do well. She just hoped that his team, and his sensei, would treat him right.

Kiba growled in frustration, "Hey! Miyoi-chan! Are you even listening to me!"

She looked at Kiba, and the grin faded from her face, "No... I... I'm sorry. I wasn't." She turned back to look at Naruto, "I was just thinking about him..."

Kiba just crossed his arms and huffed, "Why do you care about him? He's not even on our team, so he's not our worry."

She chuckled a little at Kiba's attitude and response, he had gotten awful possessive of her over the last few months. She had been pretty confident that he had a crush on her, and his reaction when she was placed in the same squad as him only supported that belief. "Your right, he's not on our team," Kiba had a smug smile on his face, "But he is my friend. So, he may not be your worry, but he is mine."

Kiba shook his head, the smugness gone, "Why are you even friends with him?"

Miyoi just rolled her eyes and laid down, looking up at the clouds from under the cover of the tree. "He needed one..." And as a smile tugged at her lips she remembered all those hours that they had spent after school working on his techniques, and she remembered that she had been the 'new girl' in the school and in the city_, "And so did I."_

**( ~ V ~ )**

Naruto was honestly just trying to be nice to his new teammate and she was being such a bitch about it. He honestly didn't understand how anyone could put up with her. All she had been doing for the last hour and a half was complain! Lunch had gone quietly enough, but as soon as everyone had been gathered back in the classroom most of the squads jonin senseis had shown up and taken their squads off to who knows where. Or, more accurately, all seven of the other squads had been picked up, leaving squads seven, eight, and ten alone in the room. Even Iruka had packed up and left for the day. All of this wouldn't have bugged him so much, but they couldn't go anywhere until their sensei arrived, and Ino's incessant complaining was driving him up the wall.

Sasuke was sitting in a corner of the room, quiet, as always. Probably musing about how much his squad and sensei would slow him down on his path to power.  
Seku was sitting in the opposite corner of the room, reading a book. He probably would have gotten a lot farther in the book if he hadn't kept sending glares in Sasuke's direction.  
Sakura and Ino were in the third corner, fighting as only those two could fight. They wouldn't actually hit each other without some extra outside pressure, but that didn't prevent them from using any verbal barb they could think of. Which included complaining about the bribery and blackmailing Sakura must have done to get on Sasuke's team.  
Shino was sitting where he had always sat in class, quiet as always. He only spoke when spoken to, and only responded with as much information was needed. He had always been quiet... and Naruto wasn't too sure why.  
Kiba was talking up a storm, and Miyoi was just sitting there, listening politely. Naruto grinned, _"Treat her right, Kiba... or I will kick your ass!"_

A knock sounded on the door as two people walked in, Naruto instantly started praying that one of those two people were his sensei, then he could leave. The first of the two people to walk in was a dark haired man with a goatee and muttonchops. He had a cigarette in his mouth and sleepy brown eyes that reminded Naruto of Sarutobi when he was sitting down behind his desk, staring at him as if trying to decide what punishment to decree. He was wearing a chunin vest and a pair of dark blue shirts and pants.  
The second person was a woman of just shorter stature than the man. Her red eyes almost sent a shiver down his spine as she scanned each of the children in the room, it looked like she was covered with bandages, from her shoulders down to her thighs. The only piece of clothing that Naruto could define was her crimson red vest with only one sleeve.  
The two jonin looked at each other and nodded, some silent communication passing between them.  
The male spoke first, "My name is Sarutobi, Asuma. Squad ten, come with me!"

Choji, and Kiba immediately got to their feet and followed the man. Miyoi stopped at the door, turned to Naruto, and waved, a smile on her face. "Do well, Naruto-kun. Put all those hours I spent helping you to good use, alright?" She then disappeared before he could respond.

_"She said... Naruto... kun..."_

The woman was the next to speak, "I'm here for squad eight. Meet me by the front entrance, you have five minutes." She then disappeared into the hallway.

**( ~ V ~ )**

Naruto growled, was this woman ever going to stop complaining? He stopped walking and turned to grab her shoulder, "Listen, Ino..." She brushed his hand off of her shoulder, instead of hitting him, that was progress, "I'm sorry you're on this team."

She immediately got defensive, her hands clenching into fists, "Why?" Her eyes narrowed as she glared at Naruto, "Is it because you think I'm useless? Or is it because you would rather have someone else on your team... like Sakura?"

Naruto shook his head, "I'm sorry that you're on this team because you obviously don't want to be on this team, you've almost done nothing but complain since you got assigned to this squad."

Ino sharpened her glare, "So... what are you trying to say?"

"I'm trying to say..." He looked over to Shino, who had amazingly stopped to watch, instead of walking on to the front entrance, "Look, Iruka-sensei said that he had no control over the team arrangements, that it was Sarutobi-sama that dealt with that. I'll go fight him over the team arrangements if you want me to."

Shock derailed her anger, she had expected him to say any number of things, but nothing along that line. "Y... you would?" When Naruto nodded his head she was only more confused, "W... why?"

"You and I are on a team," Naruto smiled at her, "Whether or not we want to be. That means that I have to look out for my teammates. If you're not happy, or well, then that hinders the entire group, and it's my duty to see what I can do to help you."

"Naruto..." Ino was amazed, she'd never seen this kid quite like this before, "You just described a friend... not a team."

Naruto just shook his head and shrugged, "I honestly don't see why teammates can't be friends. And besides, I'd rather have a friend, someone I can trust, watching my back than someone who I'm not sure I can trust."

Ino smiled, and was about to say something, but the world suddenly started to shift and swirl, almost like she was about to faint. She started to fall, but was grateful when she felt two strong hands holding her up. She then realized it was Naruto, and her cheeks flashed red.

Their jonin instructor, who had definitely not been there a moment ago stepped out of the wall as it melded back to what it should be, "I'm surprised..."

Naruto held Ino for a moment, making sure she was alright, before letting her go and looking up at his instructor and narrowing his eyes, questioningly, "Surprised about what?"

The lady smiled, "Most people don't treat a team with that kind of view, Naruto. I'm impressed. I was watching you guys to see how I should test you, to see if I could break you all apart. " The smile melted into a smirk as she returned Naruto's gaze, "I honestly thought it'd be pretty easy, since you're on the team..."

Naruto immediately snapped, barring his teeth, "And what about me being on the team would make it easy to tear us apart?"

Her laugh was soft and sweet, "You've never seen your student folder, have you, Naruto?" When he shook his head no she laughed again, "That was what took me so long to get to you guys, I was reading your folder..." She pointed a finger at Naruto, "It said that you never really did well at group assignments, that you often got into fights, and..."

Naruto growled, "It probably said I was horrible at everything!"

She ignored Naruto's interruption, narrowing her own eyes at the boy, making sure that he understood the exact meaning behind her words, and that the other two would not, "But there's a reason for that, isn't there?"

Naruto's face softened as he caught her exact meaning. She knew about Kyuubi? That made sense, but she didn't have that internal hatred radiating out of her eyes that so many other people did. She may have hated Kyuubi, but she didn't hate him, and for that reason, he would be glad to have her as his sensei. "Yes... there's a reason for that."

Ino glanced between the two, she had caught that their was a double meaning behind what they had said, and she knew that both of them had caught it, but she didn't know what that double meaning was. When she spared a glance in Shino's direction she honestly wasn't surprised that he looked just as stoic as ever... but had he caught the double meaning?

**( ~ V ~ )**

The plan was to take her squad to dinner, and find out about them when they were a little more relaxed. It had sounded pretty simple when she thought of it... but it wasn't quite turning out as she had planned.

"Ahh, Yuhi-san! The usual table for you and Sa..." He quickly silenced himself when he noticed the children following her, instead of her usual partner, "A table for three?"

She shook her head and smiled at the man, "A table for four actually."

"Four?" He looked at her as if he was questioning her sanity, "But... Yuhi-san, who is the fourth person?"

She would have questioned this man's intelligence, but she had seen the slashing glance he had given Naruto when the group first walked up, and she knew Naruto had seen it too, even though he was trying to act like he hadn't. "Does it matter? I requested a table for four." She wondered if Ino was being quiet because the girl was as shocked as she was about how Naruto was being treated, or for some other reason.

After the group had been seated at the round table, with many more slashing glances from the patrons and employees in Naruto's direction, Naruto leaned forward slightly and spoke quietly. "I've never been somewhere this nice before..."

Ino, who was sitting on his left, looked at him like he was crazy, "Never, Naruto-san?"

Naruto shook his head "Never." then looked at Shino, who was sitting across from him, "What about you? Have you ever been somewhere this nice?"

Shino's reply was short, not very informative, but he had answered in the affirmative. Ino had, of course, suspected that he had, he did belong to a prominent family in the village after all.

She watched the children, or rather - she watched Ino talk. Shino was listening, politely, but responded as little as possible, and gave as little information about himself as he could. Naruto, on the other hand, was sitting in the chair like a child who had been told to stop fidgeting. He was sitting on his hands, his shoulders hunched and his eyes down, almost like he were trying to make himself as small, and invisible, as possible. He was facing the back wall of the restaurant, so she knew that he couldn't see the patrons glancing at him every so often, out of the corner of their eyes - but she could see that he felt them, each and every single one of them almost had a visible impact on his body, like a small needle that stabbed at him, again, and again, and again. She couldn't tell if the other two children noticed how uncomfortable their comrade was, but it almost hurt to watch him.

The waiter came up to the table and passed out menus, one to everyone - except Naruto - before turning to face the eldest of the group. "Would you like anything to drink?"

She didn't even bother glancing down at the menus, she just narrowed her eyes at the waiter, who was doing his best to treat Naruto like he wasn't even there, "You can bring another menu, for my student." She looked at the faces of the kids she had been stuck with, "But since they're all too young for sake you can just bring us all some tea." She shifted her eyes back to the waiter, just to make sure he understood, exactly what she meant when she said all - it included Naruto.

He bowed his head and then scurried off with, perhaps, a little more haste than was prudent.

As soon as the waiter was out of earshot Ino leaned a little closer to Naruto and looked into his face, "Are you okay?" He nodded his head, his smile and his actions said he was fine, but his eyes and body language said he wasn't. He was far from fine. "Why do you let people treat you like that?"

He couldn't believe that there was actually concern in her voice, but then, what he had said back at the academy came back to him _"You and I are on a team... that means that I have to look out for my teammates. If you're not happy, or well, then that hinders the entire group, and it's my duty to see what I can do to help you."_ He just smiled at her and sighed, "I... I appreciate your concern... Ino-san..." He looked into her eyes for a moment before looking back down into his lap, "But there... there really isn't anything that can be done."

Ino turned away from him and crossed her arms, huffing, "Fine! That's the last time I try to help you! Naruto-baka."

She pushed her menu to Naruto and grinned, "I eat here all the time, I already know what I'm going to order." She tried to smile, but she knew it looked fake and forced, and she knew he noticed it.  
Just over a half an hour later, when the groups orders were brought out and placed before everyone, she almost killed someone. She had noticed, and ignored, the fact that Naruto's tea was served cold, while everyone else's was steaming, because Naruto hadn't mentioned anything. But she would not ignore this. Shino had ordered a salad with a side of meat, Ino had ordered a plain salad, and Naruto had ordered a simple soup. Ino's and Shino's plates had been delivered just as they had asked, which is one of the reasons she liked this place, the chefs were very good. Naruto's bowl, however, was anything but what he ordered. Hell, if someone actually ate that she was sure it would kill them, and it would not be a pleasant, painless, or quick death.  
As soon as her plate was placed in front of her she grabbed the collar of the waiter and pulled him down to eye level and glared at him, more than ready to gut him if he so much as said anything that she didn't like. She made it quite clear that she wanted to see the manager, using a few terms that, kami-sama willing, the children wouldn't pick up and start using.

Just after the waiter scurried away, fearing for his life - and rightfully so - Naruto leaned over to her and whispered, "Sensei... it... it's alright... you don't have to... I... I'm used to this..." He may have been used to it, but she wasn't, and she damned well wasn't ever going to be.

She looked at Naruto, scanning his face, trying to find out exactly what it is he wanted. She then sighed, and stood up, sending Naruto a look that told him the last thing he should do is argue, "Alright, we're going." Shino immediately stopped eating and stood up, it took Ino a moment longer to understand but she rose to her feet as well.

Naruto was barely beginning to stand when the manager, a rotund and greasy looking man walked up, a queer look in his eyes as he looked at Naruto with unmasked disdain. "Yuhi-san? Is there something not to your liking?"  
She turned to the man and pointed at Naruto's bowl, she didn't trust herself to speak, not at the moment.  
He chuckled softly, "That's exactly what the boy ordered Yuhi-san, I don't see what is wrong with it."

She growled at the man, "I highly doubt that! But, since you don't see anything wrong with it, why don't you eat it?"

He broke out into a sweat as the rage of the woman in front of him silenced him. He smiled, but it was shaky and nervous, "Now, Yuhi-san, you know that as the manager I..."

She grabbed Naruto's shoulder, pulled him to his feet, and dragged him out of the restaurant, followed by her two other pupils. She would never eat there again, and when she saw the look on Ino's face, she was confident that neither would she.

**( ~ V ~ )**

"Welcome to Ichira..." The brown haired girl turned around to greet the customers and stopped when she noticed the blonde hair, "Naruto-kun!" But when the three other people walked in behind him she switched back to her formal greeting instantly, "Welcome to Ichiraku Ramen! How may I serve you?"

Naruto grinned at the girl, "Heya, Ayame-neechan! Where's pops?"

Ayame returned the smile, "He's running a delivery - he usually has me do it, but he said I had been doing them all day, and looked tired, so he'd take care of that one."

Naruto nodded, and then plopped down on a stool, "A bowl of misu ramen please!"

Ayame nodded and turned to other three as they slowly took their own seats, "And for you?"

After everyone had been eating in relative silence for a few minutes she looked at her students and sighed, "Alright, everyone. Now that we've all had some food. Time for introductions."

Naruto was the first to respond, "But, Yuhi-sensei, we all already know each other."

She rolled her eyes, "But I don't know you that well, and you might not know as much about each other as you think, and do you really know me?"

Ino looked at her with a questioning look in her eyes, "Didn't you read all of our school files though?"

She nodded, "Yeah, but as Naruto pointed out, those things aren't always accurate."

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he watched her, trying to discern her real motive, "Why don't you go first, so that we know what you want."

"Alright," She shrugged, "My name is Yuhi, Kurenai, I like curling up with a good book, and a certain person, I dislike people who don't take their training seriously, and my dreams are really none of your concern." She then pointed to Shino, "You first..."  
Shino didn't even turn to look at her, he just continued staring straight ahead, "Aburame, Shino. Learning. Irrational fears of bugs. Become a great shinobi."

_"That didn't tell us anything Shino..." _Ino sighed, "My name is Yamanaka, Ino. I like Sa..." She caught herself from saying Sasuke-kun, and shook her head, "helping out in my family's flower shop, I dislike idiots, and people who think I'm weak. My dream..." She froze for a moment, _"I really haven't given my life much thought, have I? I mean, I've just been chasing after Sasuke-san... what... else did I want from my life?"_ She shook her head and looked at Kurenai, "I haven't given it much thought."

Naruto nodded his head, a large grin on his face, "My name is Uzumaki, Naruto! I like Ichiraku Ramen, Ayame-neechan, and Teuchi-san since they've always treated me so well..." Kurenai couldn't understand the suddenly guilty look on Ayame's face, "I dislike people that..." Naruto swallowed his words, like he was about to say something he shouldn't, then continued as if there had been no pause, "And my dream is to get everyone in the village to respect and acknowledge me."

After Kurenai had told the group where to meet for their training, which would begin the next morning, another portion of the day ticked away as the group made small talk, entirely ignoring everything that had happened that day - until Ino opened her mouth, "Hey, Kurenai-sensei? Back at the academy... in the hallway. What was that?"

Kurenai looked at the girl and smiled, "That, my dear, is one of the things that I will be teaching to you all." A slight pause to make sure she had everyone's attention, "Genjutsu."

_"Where have I heard that before? ... Genjutsu?" _Naruto shivered at the word as the memory came back to him.  
_Iruka had said "He would have succeeded at the bunshin had you not used that genjutsu on his clone..."  
__Then Mizuki had laughed, "So, you saw that did you?..."  
_Naruto couldn't explain the cold rage that he felt coursing through his veins, _"Iruka had known that Mizuki placed an illusion on my clone! He knew and he still failed me! The bastard!"  
_Naruto slammed his fist down onto the table, causing everyone, and everything to jump, "That bastard has got some explaining to do!" And, before anyone could stop him, he was running.

**Chapter End**

Alright! Chapter 5 is finished (September 28, 2010 - late at night ... again)  
Enjoy!

Author's Notes:

This story does not have a beta reader.  
As always, I'm open to criticism and advice.  
~ The Arms of Blood


	6. Obstacles and Effort

**The Nine Tails of the Heart**

**( ~ VI ~ )**

_**Chapter Six: Obstacles and Effort**_

She, honestly, hadn't expected Naruto to show up for training that morning. She knew that he hadn't gone back to his apartment last night, but she still hadn't expected to see him in the condition he was in. His clothes were in tatters, his hair was matted and dirty, and his face and hands were covered with scratches. He had been out, deep in the forest, burning his rage on a few trees and through training, but, she could see it in his eyes, he was still angry... No, angry didn't quite cover it. He was furious.  
She walked over to the boy and placed a hand on his shoulder, positioning herself between him and the other two genin, she would be able to handle him if he lost control, "Naruto?"  
It took him a moment, but he took a deep breathe and a step back before he looked up at her and responded.  
He was trying to calm himself down, she could see that, but she had no idea what had triggered his rage, or why was he still so angry, "Come with me, we need to talk."  
She looked over her shoulder at Shino and Ino and told them to go ahead to the training ground and warm up, she had a few things she needed to discuss with her _'troublesome' _student first.

Shino, knowing exactly why she wanted to be alone with Naruto for a moment, nodded his head and started walking away. It took Ino a moment to catch up to him.

Kurenai turned back to Naruto, and squatted so that they were closer to eye level, "What happened last night?" She placed a hand on his shoulder, partially to stabilize herself, and partially to have a hold on him if he tried to run away, or avoid the question.

Naruto shifted his gaze down to the ground and growled, a snarl hidden behind his lips, "He really didn't care, that bastard lied to me! Mizuki was right, all he wanted was the scroll."

After they found out that she was to be Naruto's instructor Asuma had pulled her aside and told her as much about the scroll of sealing incident as he could, but there was just so much that he didn't know. Sarutobi had pulled her aside and told her a great deal, more than Asuma possibly could have, but she knew that he was leaving out quite a quantity of information. She had heard enough, however, and could piece the rest of the story together over time as she got more pieces to the puzzle. And this was a big piece.  
"Naruto," The boy looked up at her, "What happened last night? Why did you run off?" She asked again, this time a little more forcefully.

Naruto looked away again, "I had been working so hard, and training for so long, so that I could graduate and become a ninja. During the test, Mizuki placed an illusion on my clone so that I'd fail. Iruka saw it... he knew! He saw it and, even though he knew that I could create clones, failed me anyway!" Naruto was shaking from the rage that he was bottling up. He was trying his hardest not to explode, but it was almost too much. He almost couldn't take it. There was also something else there, not just anger, but a deep emotional pain.

When she saw that pain she knew exactly what he needed, and exactly what do to. She pulled the boy into a hug and held him for a moment, he needed a mother now more than he needed a mentor. "I know you're hurting right now, and I'm sorry that I can't do anything to ease your pain, but I can tell you, from experience, bottling up all of your emotions is not a good thing. You've got to learn to let them go and you've got to learn to move on. I'm not saying that you have to forgive Iruka for hurting you, you may never be able to forgive him. I hope you do, eventually, forgive him, but that will take time. He is a fellow shinobi, however, and you may have to work with him someday. So whenever you see him, be civil and treat him like you'd treat any other fellow shinobi. Alright?"

The boy huffed, returning the hug for a moment before stepping back. He wasn't shaking anymore, but she could see that he was still angry and hadn't truly let his emotions go. "Thank you, Kurenai-sensei."

**( ~ VI ~ )**

Naruto laughed giddily when he recognized where he was, his attitude a full 180 from earlier that morning, "This is the training ground?" He turned to look at Kurenai, just to make sure that no one was playing a joke on him, "I love this place!"  
The group was at the lake. The fact that Naruto had spent so much time here as he was growing up had been a large part of the reason that Kurenai had asked for this place in particular to be their training ground. It wasn't usually a training ground, but since so few civilians visited it Sarutobi had signed off on the necessary paperwork without any argument.

"Alright, since we're all here, let's get to training! First thing first, though, I want to see where you three stand!" She pointed to Ino, and made a come here gesture with her hand, "You first. How's your taijutsu?"  
Ino grimaced as she inched towards her teacher.

The next few days had passed painfully slow, especially for Naruto. Kurenai had measured their current skills, then taught them the basic theory of genjutsu recognition, creation, and elimination. After she was sure that they had the basics down she showed them how to walk up a tree. Shino had, of course, known how to do it already and Ino had picked up the ability fairly quickly, but Naruto had taken a few days, and a great deal of time growling at the trees, before Kurenai thought that he was proficient enough to move on.

Naruto massaged his neck with a hand, more than glad to take a short break before his muscles started to lock up on him. "She's harsh..."

"Yeah, she is, but she's helped us all improve, a lot, already." Ino sighed, looking out over the lake, "I just wish Sasuke-kun could see me getting stronger."

Naruto rolled his eyes. He couldn't believe that she was still worried about that, at least she wasn't complaining all the time anymore, "You know, Ino-san," He paused for a moment, waiting for her to look at him, "It's actually better that you're not on Sasuke's team."

She narrowed her eyes questioningly at the other blonde, which was a huge step up from the angry glare he was used to receiving, "Why do you say that?"

He took a deep breath and sat down. "Have you ever watched a plant grow, Ino-san?" She nodded, not quite sure what he was getting at, "If you see the plant everyday, it's not going to look like it's growing that much, but if you only see it every once in a while its growth looks more like large leaps and bounds."

Ino shook her head, her blonde hair falling into her face, "I can't say I understand, Naruto-san. How does that mean that it's better that I'm not on Sasuke-kun's team?"

Naruto leaned forward a little, resting his hands on his knees, "Look at it like this: Sakura is the plant you see every day, you may notice it growing, but the growth seems slow and possibly insignificant. You, Ino-san, are more like the plant you only see every once in a while. Since Sakura is on Sasuke's team he's going to see her grow, just a little bit, every day. He isn't going to be seeing you grow everyday, so when he does see you the change is going to be much more dramatic than if he had been seeing it every day."

She was amazed, not only, that this was the second time that Naruto had cheered her up on the topic of Sasuke, but also that what he had said made sense, _"This kid's smarter than he looks... then why did he always act so dumb in class?"  
_"Naruto?" He had a genuine smile on his face, and there wasn't so much frustration and anger in his eyes as their used to be. "Why did you always act so stupid in class..." She almost felt guilty, his smile faded so fast, had what she said hurt him?

He looked away and hung his head, "I wanted people to notice me, so I acted up, and I did anything that I could think of to get attention. All I wanted was for people to recognize me, to treat me like a human being, and to stop..." He sighed, _"For people to stop seeing me as Kyuubi, and to just see me as a person..."_

As she remembered the restaurant, she had thought that he was about to say _"For people to stop mistreating me."  
_He had been slowly contradicting almost everything she had ever believed about him. In class he had been rude, stupid, disruptive, troublesome, lazy, extremely annoying, and had quite a few other nasty traits that she didn't particularly feel like recalling in any detail. Now that they were training, however, he was showing himself to be stubborn, focused, hard-working, cheerful, courteous, thoughtful, and, at times when he didn't think anyone was watching, melancholy. He was still a little loud and obnoxious, but he knew when to shut up and get to work.  
"Is that why you kept trying to get a date with Sakura?" She was secretly glad that he had chosen to bug Sakura instead of her, "What if she had said yes?"

Naruto laughed, "Yes, that was why I pretended to have a crush on Sakura." He then looked Ino in the eyes and smiled, it was a sad smile, soft and pained, but it was still a smile, "She wouldn't have said yes, that's why I picked her."

Ino felt like she had been punched. He had bugged Sakura because he truly believed... because he knew that she would never say yes, because she would always reject him. That had to be painful; to know that you would never be accepted. "Naruto... does that mean you thought I might have said yes?"

Naruto chuckled, the pained smile still on his face, "I didn't bug you because..." He paused for a moment and looked in her eyes, "I know you would have eventually said yes."

**( ~ VI ~ )**

She was pleasantly and honestly surprised at how quickly they had picked up on the techniques. Shino had refined his climbing to an almost effortless gait, and Ino wasn't that far behind. Naruto still had trouble moving quickly, but as he got more practice, she was sure, he would smooth over the rough edges of his technique.  
"Take a break!" Kurenai called to the three children, waving them over to her. "Now that you three have the technique, it's time to move on to the next step..." She grinned devilishly at her pupils, "Water walking."

Shino gulped.  
Naruto grinned.  
Ino raised her hand, "Kurenai-sensei? How are we going to practice water walking?"

Kurenai couldn't help but chuckle. Raising her hand every time she had a question was cute, and had been bred into her through the years in the academy, but it wasn't necessary, or smart. "The same way I taught you tree climbing and the basics for genjutsu. I'll teach the theory, then you practice until you get it right." She grinned when Ino and Shino both shivered, "Yes, you're going to be getting wet."

Shino and Ino both ran off to their homes to get towels, and a pair of clean, dry, clothes for later. Naruto, on the other hand, immediately stripped down to his pants and jumped into the water, swam out to the center of the lake, and tried to pull himself to the surface. By the time the other two genin returned he was able to stay afloat as long as he stayed on all fours, but as soon as he tried to stand he'd sink beneath the surface.

_Two days later, in the afternoon.  
_Shino and Ino crawled out of the lake, both dripping wet, and both soaked to the bone (much more troublesome for Shino than Ino). Kurenai waved them over to the fire and handed them both a towel. After they had dried their faces off she handed them a cup of warm tea, "How do you think you're doing?"

Ino was the first to speak, of course, "I'm making progress, I mean, I can stand on the surface of the water easily enough but as soon as I shift my weight and try to move, I sink." She then looked out over the lake to Naruto, who rose slowly, and shakily, to his feet. After a moment he shot his hands into the air and cheered, as if he had just overcome some great obstacle.  
"But I don't understand why he tries so hard..." She looked at Shino for a moment, "Shino and I take breaks every once in a while, just to catch our breathes and warm up a little... but..." She looked back over to Naruto, who sank below the surface of the lake, disappearing for a solitary moment, before his blonde hair poked above the water once more, "He rarely ever takes a break..."

Both of the girls were surprised when it was Shino who spoke, "I'm not entirely sure, but I have an idea."  
"Last week, he told us that he wanted people to recognize and acknowledge him. I don't doubt that what he was is true, but I don't believe he told us everything." Shino leaned a little closer to the campfire to warm himself.  
"Most people, when given a task to complete, will put no more effort than is necessary towards completing it. They simply don't see a need to. Naruto has never had the luxury of not. He's always had to put in that extra effort just to scrape by."  
Shino turned to look at Ino, to make sure she understood that what he was about to say was meant entirely for her, "We have both had it easy up to now, our lives, and our roads to becoming genin..." He shifted his gaze to the other blonde for a moment, "He's never had it easy, Ino."

The trio sank into a silence, as each of them retreated into their own thoughts, that was only broken by the crackling of the fire and the sound of Naruto splashing about in the lake as he kept on training.

**Chapter End**

Alright! Chapter six is finished ( October 2nd, 2010 ) (reposted October 3rd, 2010 )  
Enjoy!

Author's Notes:

This story does not (currently) have a beta reader.

As always, I'm open to criticism and advice.

~ The Arms of Blood


	7. The Haunting Past: Painful Remembrance

**The Nine Tails of the Heart**

**( ~ VII ~ )**

_**Chapter Seven: The Haunting Past: Painful Remembrance**_

When Ino arrived at the training ground the next morning she wasn't surprised to see Naruto, he was usually the first one there, but she was surprised to see him arguing with Kurenai... well... arguing with Kurenai this early in the morning.

"Why are you being so damned stubborn, Naruto?"

"I'm being stubborn, Kurenai-sensei, because I told you that I'm not sick and you're not letting me train!"

She growled at the boy, "Stop trying to fool me Naruto, you look sick, you're running a fever, and you've been pushing yourself too hard for the last several days! I tried warning you, that if you didn't pace yourself properly you'd do more harm then good!" He returned the growl as best he could, but even to him it sounded weak, "Let me train! They're already ahead of me, I can't afford to take days off! I don't want to use some stupid excuse like this to n..."

She slapped him across the back of the head, and then caught him to keep from ending up on the ground, "Shut up, Naruto." She lifted his chin so that he'd see her face, and so that he wouldn't be able to look away so easily, "If you're not going to listen to advice, listen to orders. Go home and get some rest!"

He growled weakly one more time and muttered some pithy comment under his breathe before he finally bowed his head and submitted to being escorted to his apartment by one of Kurenai's shadow clones. Normally he would have fought more, but they all knew that he wasn't feeling well. By the time he got home and locked the door to his apartment, he was miserable. He'd never felt to sick, or so beaten, in his entire life.

**( ~ VII ~ )**

Kurenai grinned as the two genin, stepping back onto dry land, responded to her signal that she wanted to talk to them and walked up to her. "You've both made a lot of progress, I'm proud of all of you."

Ino was about to ask what she had meant by _all_, when she and Shino were the only two there, but a moment later she understood, _"She's proud of Naruto too... he should of been here... he should have heard that..."  
_She hadn't realized that she'd been standing there in a daze until Kurenai placed a hand on her shoulder and asked if she was alright. Ino just nodded before looking up into Kurenai's eyes and sighing, "He should of been here to hear that, sensei. He should of heard that you were proud of him... I..." She looked out over the empty lake, "I think he needs to hear it..."

"That's partly why I'm cutting training short today, and giving you all the day off tomorrow. Naruto shouldn't be alone right now, and I have a few things that I need to take care of before I can go check on him. So, I wanted to ask you, if you could go take care of him while I run those errands."

Ino sighed, even though Kurenai had said that she was asking, they both knew that she wasn't, "Sure, Kurenai-sensei. I'll take care of him until you show up."

**( ~ VII ~ )**

She could hardly believe what she was seeing. The building in front of her looked terrible; more like an abandoned building, that had been vacant for years and that was about to be torn down, than a home. _"He lives here! I... don't see how..."  
_She unlocked the door with the key Kurenai had given her, stepped inside, and stuttered for a moment, _"And I thought it looked bad on the outside..."_The walls were painted with graffiti. The table in the den had one of its legs lashed back on. The cushions that Naruto probably used for chairs looked slightly empty of their stuffing, and had obviously been sewn back together, quite clumsily, more than once. The refrigerator in his kitchen had a large dent in the door, and looked like the door was about to come off at the hinges. The kitchen table was in no better shape than the table in the den.  
She had expected Naruto's home to be a complete mess; and it was, just not the kind of mess she expected. The rooms themselves were, amazingly, clean, considering the condition they were in. _"How can you live in a place like this and never complain, Naruto..." _She sighed as she remembered the several times that he had given her just a small glimpse of his true personality, instead of the mask that he had always worn at the academy. _"You never complain, but all I was doing for the first few days of being on this team was complain. How did I not drive you mad?"_ She sent a glance in the direction of his bedroom, the door was partially open, and the condition of that room didn't look to be any better than the rest of the building.  
She sighed again, set her things down on the kitchen table, then got to work.

**( ~ VII ~ )**

The sky was a light blue, and the two-tailed fox resting in the shade of a large tree yawned, watching the clouds drift lazily overhead as the winds pushed them, gently, from behind. The sky was so relaxing and so few humans ever came to this spot, which made it a perfect place to rest.

"Oi! You're not going to do any work today? Kikoe?" A reddish-brown toad hopped up to the darkly colored fox.

The fox yawned again before turning to the toad, some venom in his voice "Nah, don't feel like it Gamabunta. Why? Did Shuurei send you to find me so she could make me do something for her?"

The toad remained silent for a moment before speaking, "What's going on between you two? You've been fighting with each other a lot lately..."

The fox just turned away from his friend, his jaw clenched tightly shut, trying to keep the snarl from escaping his throat. It was a minute before he could find it in himself to speak, "Gamabunta, I..." He looked back at his friend, his eyes watery, "I think she hates me..."

The toad only chuckled, at which it received a glaring response from the fox, "Kikoe-baka! Can't you tell? She loves you!"

**( ~ VII ~ )**

He knew the difference between a dream and what wasn't, and what he had just seen wasn't a dream. He had been _'remembering'_ short flashes, almost like pictures, of two foxes, a toad, and a brown bird, for the last several years but he had never payed them enough mind before to think that they were important. Now he knew that they were important; he just had no idea how. He hadn't even remembered about the _'flashes' _since he hadn't had one since Mizuki had told him that he was the human vessel for Kyuubi.

Ino almost felt bad for the boy, over the past hour his fever hadn't gotten any better and the only thing she could think to do was place a wet rag on his forehead to help cool him down.  
When he groaned and his face scrunched up she wondered whether he was having a nightmare, of if he was just in that much pain...

**( ~ VII ~ )**

The four-tailed fox sat in front of the tree and grinned. A few hundred years ago he hadn't even been the size of one of this tree's smallest branches. Now he was quite a bit bigger, though still minuscule when compared to the tree.

"Kikoe-san! Kikoe-san!"

The four-tailed fox turned to look at the large bird and growled when he realized how quickly it was coming in for the landing, "What's wrong? Yakei-san! Is everything alright?"

"It's Shuurei..."

That was all the brown-feathered bird needed to say to get his attention, and switch him from reminiscing about his past to a battlefield mentality. "Is she alright?" Shuurei wasn't his mate, but that didn't mean he didn't care about her.

"She's sick, Kikoe-san."

He was about to growl at the bird, but the thought slammed into him before he could, _"There's sick... and then there's sick..."_ He spared a glance at the bird who was fidgeting nervously, "How sick?"

The bird sputtered for a second before catching exactly what the fox was asking, "The same as last time..."

The fox then sighed, coming down from the battlefield mentality and switching to just being genuinely annoyed, "Yakei... please don't ever scare me like that again..."

**( ~ VII ~ )**

Ino wasn't even sure if Naruto knew she was there. His fever hadn't gotten any better; if anything it had gotten worse.  
She leaned over him and replaced the rag on his forehead, "Please, get better soon..." She hated not being able to do anything; she hated feeling so useless, "Naruto-kun."

**( ~ VII ~ )**

He absolutely hated this place. He had never liked it, and he was sure that he never would. _"I haven't been away long enough..."_

The cold and grey landscape stretched to the horizon in every direction. The sunlight, obscured by impermeable clouds of dust and fog, never reached the ground. The stench of fear, death, rot, and blood hang thick in the air. The sky was dim and grey. Just being in the realm would make you feel weary, like your life, and energy, was being drained from you, but no matter how weary, no matter how tired, you would find no rest, or peace, here. This was the demonic plane of war, the realm that most mortals simply called hell.  
Almost nothing could survive here, which is exactly why the demon council had chosen this realm as their home.  
Hovering far above the battlefields below was the floating mountain of Kagirinai-Kurai. The residence of the demon council. There was something about the mountain that made those that approached it feel small and insignificant, weak and pitiful. Even the demon lords themselves could not stand in the presence of the mountain without feeling the immense weight of the dark stone that towered above them.

Yes, he absolutely hated this place.  
The dark chamber in which he found himself, was no less oppressing than the rest of the realm, though most of the unpalatable stenches were seared away by the immense power of the beings in the room. The ceiling and walls, obscured in darkness, were invisible, even to demonic eyes. The tiers of chairs formed an almost complete circle around the room, all facing towards the center and the petitioners circle. The floor was a polished midnight black, just like the rest of the room, completely dark, from which very little light escaped.

A deep and thundering voice fell from the ceiling and filled the room. "Do you understand, Kikoe-san?"

The six-tailed fox, keeping a tight reign on the gentle swishing of his tails, bowed his head, "I understand, and obey."

"Good. You are dismissed."

He bowed again before turning and striding out of the room as calmly as he could. The realm itself was unnerving enough, the mountain more so, and the impenetrable darkness of that room even more. But nothing was quite so unnerving as hearing that omnipresent voice. It made him shiver, and he was sure that it had that effect on everyone. No one knew for sure where that voice came from, or even what it was. Some people believed that the voice was the voice of Kami-sama himself. Others would say that it belonged to a being trapped inside of the mountain, whose home realm was the demonic realm of war. No matter what that voice truly was; very few chose to defy its will, and those that had did not last for long.  
When he had received the summons to stand before the demon council, he had been cautiously afraid, and rightfully so. He had expected to hear, at least, that he was being limited access to the mortal realm that he had taken such a liking to over the past several hundred years. Instead, he had been told that he was now a demon lord. That thought alone would take some getting used to. There were, of course, responsibilities, and privileges, that came with the title. He had never expected to become a demon lord, he had never even dreamed of it, but he wasn't about to turn down the opportunity. He wasn't about to defy that thundering voice...  
And as he walked away from the dark mountain of Kagirinai-Kurai he couldn't help but chuckle, "Kikoe-sama, demon lord..."

**( ~ VII ~ )**

After the first few hours, she hadn't even bothered to pay attention to the time of day, all that mattered was taking care of the blonde-haired boy in front of her. His fever had peaked, and hadn't gotten any worse, but it wasn't getting better. She replaced the rag on his forehead and sighed before leaning back in her chair and staring at the blank white ceiling, it reminded her of a song about being alone, and so she started to sing.

**( ~ VII ~ )**

"Why do you want to go out in the rain, Kikoe-kun?" The five-tailed fox rose to her feet and looked at the seven-tailed demon lord in front of her.

The demon lord turned to look at the three other occupants of the cave and tilted his head. "Does it matter?"

The vixen huffed and narrowed her eyes at the male in front of her, "Yeah, it does matter! If you go out there right now you're going to get sick!"

"You worry too much Shuurei-chan..." He turned his head back towards the cave mouth and suppressed a grin when Yakei and Gamabunta both remained, wisely, silent. He stepped out into the torrential rain and descended down the hill and into the forest. He had been born with his first tail, of course, and the other six had come to him over time as he aged, but his eighth tail had been eluding him for some time - and know he had a feeling that there was something deep in the forest that could help him, and he intended to find it.

The dark haired boy in the clearing, seemingly unaware of the rain as it fell around him and equally unaware of the beast that approached, was caught in an intricate dance with an unseen foe. Strike, block, retreat, strike, feint, kick, strike, spin, block, block, dodge, retreat, strike, strike, kick, strike, block, dodge, block, feint, strike.

Kikoe watched the boy practicing his steps, almost as if by doing them he would gain more power... but wasn't that exactly why he was out in the rain at the moment, because he wanted to achieve his eighth tail? Shifting into his human form he stepped into the clearing and grinned when the boy, finally aware of his presence, span to look at the newcomer.  
"You should be careful of how long you spend out in the rain, or in these woods," Kikoe smirked, welcoming the pull of muscles he had not used in a great many years, "It can be dangerous for little kids." He of course wasn't referring to the woods or the rain as being dangerous, though they could be, he was referring to himself, and other such hunters like him.

The boy froze when he saw the man in front of him. He knew, instantly, that the man was not a human but merely something in human form. Its skin was a flushed red, it's hair a bloody brown, its eyes red feline slits, and its ears a pointed crown. "You should take your own advice, before giving it to others, makes you seem like a hypocrite."

Kikoe laughed, amazed that the boy was so defiant, or strong. Most mortals couldn't do more than cower while in the presence of a demon lord, let alone stand and fight back. Not to say the boy wasn't scared, Kikoe could smell that he was. "What's your name boy?"

The dark haired child narrowed his eyes at the creature in front of him and snarled, "It's impolite to ask someone's name without offering your own."

"It's also impolite to be rude to your elders," Kikoe smirked as the boy hurriedly mumbled his name, a sort of appeasement, perhaps, for the unspoken threat, "Well, since you seem so dedicated to your craft and obtaining power, let me help you."

The dark haired boy narrowed his eyes again, "How do you intend to do that? Mortals and demons do not use the same methods to..." He had blinked, and that was all the time it took. He would choke on his own blood if he couldn't get free of the hand around his throat.

This child's snappy and defiant attitude was mildly amusing, but he was growing tired of it. He was fifteen arms' lengths away from the boy, and in a solitary second he had closed the distance, nearly gutted the boy with his knee, and slammed him into a nearby tree, his hand around his throat.

When the boy reached up to pry away the hand that circled his throat so that he could slip out of the stranglehold the demon only squeezed harder, pushing his nails into the boy's neck.

"Go ahead and pull yourself free, but know that if you do your throat is staying with me."  
Kikoe removed his nails from the boy's throat, as soon as he stopped struggling, setting him, none too gently, on the ground at the base of the tree. He chuckled as the boy reflexively brought his hand to his throat, to feel how bad the wound was and to protect it from further harm.

"You said you wanted to help me! This isn't helping me any, so please, just leave me alone..." The kid had guts to defy a demon lord so openly, especially one that had almost killed him a moment before.

"True," Kikoe shrugged, then squatted down in front of the child, "And so teach you I shall."

_Several hours later, back with his three companions_

"Oh! Kikoe! I told you that you'd get sick!"

"And I told you, you worry too..." A great mountain-shaking cough ripped through the cave, "...much."  
She just stared at him flatly, a silent signal that he should stop arguing and just, as he put it, let her fuss.

Sometime on his trip back to the cavern he had achieved his eighth tail, and if being sick was the price he had to pay, then it was worth it.  
And as he laid his head down to rest, he closed his eyes and let his mind clear; except for one thought, what he would be willing to pay for his ninth tail, to become the next Kyuubi. The first Kyuubi to walk the realms in such a very long time. When sleep finally took him one final thought crossed his mind, _"I'd be willing to pay... anything..."_

**( ~ VII ~ )**

Ino stepped out of the shower and sighed as she dried herself off. She was glad to be clean again, and more than glad that she didn't smell like vomit anymore, but had she been paying attention, and not dozing off, Naruto wouldn't have vomited on her. Not that it was his fault, he was sick after all. His fever wasn't all that much better, though it was a little, and he was still in that semi-conscious state.  
She grabbed the plain grey shirt she had taken from Naruto's dresser and put it on. She didn't know why he had something that big, but she wasn't going to complain that it was more the size of a nightgown than a normal shirt. It was just what she needed at the moment.

After washing the taint off of her body and her clothes she took a deep breathe and returned to Naruto's side to clean up the floor, and to tend to the boy she'd promised to watch over.

**( ~ VII ~ )**

The eight-tailed fox paced nervously at the mouth of the cave. Sending frequent glances in to the cave, as if expecting an attack to come from that direction at any moment. He hadn't seen Gamabunta or Yakei in just over seventeen years, which was nothing in the total span of a demon's life, but that wasn't what was worrying him, or setting him on edge. The provinces which he ruled in the demon realms were surviving, and even prospering, under his rule. But the concerns and troubles of being a demon lord wasn't what was worrying him. What was making him so jittery, and anxious, and nervous, and stressed, and sending him tumbling through a thousand other emotions he couldn't define, was just inside of the cave. His mate.  
Shuurei was pregnant, and expecting any moment now.

What would he do with his children? Would they grow up to be like their mother, or would they grow up to be like him? His parents had died, or abandoned him, shortly after birth, so he had never known them. He had never felt a desire to know his parents, but he did feel a desire, an intense desire, to know, to know and protect, his children.  
He had been pacing nervously inside of the cave until Shuurei had just gotten so frustrated with him that she told him, in not so nice of a way, to go outside, get some fresh air, and calm down. She was giving birth, that was all, it wasn't the end of the world.  
She had said that it wasn't the end of the world, but for some reason he felt that it was.

_The following morning_

He had been alive for thousands of human generations, and throughout all of those years he always had dreams and goals. Becoming a father had never been among those dreams and goals. He didn't regret being a father. He couldn't regret it, not without regretting all the time he had spent with his friend, his mate, his love, and the time he would spend with his children. The time he would spend teaching them, loving them, protecting and guiding them. No, he would not regret that. He couldn't regret it.

With the carcass of a monster nearly the size of himself hanging from his jaws he scaled the cliff-face to the cave where he had left his mate and sixteen kits. The size of the litter was unusually large, but it didn't concern him. Very little concerned him anymore. He wasn't concerned about being a demon lord, he wasn't concerned about the voice in the mountain, he wasn't concerned about becoming the next Kyuubi to walk the realms. No, all he cared about now was his mate and his kits.

The wind was still, but even without a breeze he could smell, and taste, it. Blood. It took him just a moment to realize that it wasn't coming from the meat he was carrying, it was coming from the cave. As he neared the cave, fear and despair gripped him... and inside was not what he had ever wanted to see... Sixteen bodies were lying on the floor, drowning in a sea of blood, and it was more than just the blood of his mate.

An ice began to grip his heart, as he nudged Shuurei trying to sense if their was any life left in her body that he could grab a hold of - there was nothing, and as he turned to each of the other fifteen bodies he couldn't help but cry. There wasn't a spark of life in any of them. That was his mate, his friend, his love... they were his children... there was no doubt, no concern, no pity, no sorrow, nothing. All of his emotions and logic had been burnt away by the cold fire of rage that seared his soul. There was nothing on this green earth that could stop him from taking his revenge, from scorching the earth and razing it all to ashes before he would settle and mourn. As his rage flooded the cavern, and expanded in ever widening circles, he felt his ninth tail arrive...  
When he was much younger he had promised the night that he would be willing to pay anything to become the next Kyuubi... he was not... he could not be willing to pay this.

As he turned to leave the cave, unable to bear the sight before him any longer, he saw it. A headband, just like the one he had seen over a decade prior on the head of a dark-haired boy.  
If they were the villains that had slain his mate, and his kits, then they would pay dearly. If they were the ones that took the lives of his family, then they would pay with their lives, and the lives of their family, and the loss of everything that they have ever cared about. He would destroy them... all of them...

**Chapter End**

Alright! Chapter 7 is finished (October 9th, 2010) edited and reposted (October 15th, 2010)

Enjoy!

Author's Notes:

I re-read chapters 1-6 and fixed a few grammar/spelling mistakes that I've noticed, like changing nee-chan to neechan.

Sorry that this chapter took so long, but it's getting closer to midterms for me so... (yes, I know that's an excuse)  
I hope you all enjoy!

(Edit Oct.15) Changed a few things to account for some information I learned about the canon story recently (will not change the planned story a great deal, and fits a more canon timeline/event-line)

This story does not (currently) have a beta reader.

As always, I'm open to criticism and advice.

~ The Arms of Blood


	8. The Haunting Past: Promises

**The Nine Tails of the Heart**

**( ~ VIII ~ )**

_**Chapter Eight: The Haunting Past: Promises**_

Spinning... falling... floating... rising...  
He didn't know... he wasn't sure...  
Scenes of a young boy. Flashing colors. Scenes of an ancient fox. Melting colors.  
Were they dreams? Memories? Was he the fox? The boy? Was he one but not the other? Was he neither one nor the other? Was he both, but not both?  
He didn't know... he wasn't sure...  
So he reached out and latched onto the thought, the belief, the hope... and pulled it into himself.  
There were so many questions. He had so few answers.  
He wasn't sure... he didn't know...

But he did know that he was, and that belief, that knowledge, it sheltered him.

**( ~ VIII ~ )**

Naruto was getting better; his fever had broken some time ago, while Ino had still been watching over him, and right now he was resting. But it wasn't Naruto that worried her.  
It was what came next.  
As soon as Naruto fully recovered.  
She just hoped that they were ready...

**( ~ VIII ~ )**

The blond sighed at the sound of the tinkling bell at the entrance to the shop, she had always wanted a way to bypass that... but her mother, and especially her father, said that it was an invaluable tool. She was more than just glad that there wasn't anyone in the shop, especially her mother. She didn't think she'd be able to handle her mother right now. She was just too tired.

She was mentally too tired because she had to maintain focus for extended periods of time. It took a lot of willpower and effort, for her, to even manage to stand on top of the water's surface for any length of time. Walking around wasn't any easier, and then as soon as she got home for the day, her dad would make her focus, even more, on the family techniques that he was teaching her.  
She was physically too tired because of the training Kurenai, and especially her father, had been putting her through. But she wouldn't complain. She was learning a lot and, according to Kurenai, making a lot of progress. Still... it wasn't easy.  
She was emotionally too tired because there were so many things that, recently, she had been worrying about, even though she knew she shouldn't.

She still worried, even though she'd never admit it to Naruto, about Sasuke and Sakura. She worried about her team, and what they thought of her. She was worried that she wouldn't be good enough, when they started doing actual missions, and would only drag everyone else down... she had been one of the best students in her class, but she was worried that that might not be good enough to survive in the real world. She worried about her mother and father, the shop, her life... and... she was worried about Naruto...

She was worried about Naruto, and all the things about him that just didn't seem to make sense, and that she just couldn't understand. She couldn't understand why Naruto never complained, even though his living conditions were far worse than hers. She couldn't say that she understood why he had always hidden, and continued to hide, an intelligence and wisdom far exceeding that which he had shown at the academy. She couldn't understand the short _"glimpses"_ that she had been given of the true self the lived beneath his mask. She couldn't say that she understood the sideways glances that she had always just ignored before. She couldn't say she understood why she had never really payed attention to him in the academy... no, she could... she had always been too focused on Sasuke, and her rivalry with Sakura, to pay much attention to Naruto.

She let out a deep sigh, shaking the thoughts and worries out of her head for a moment, as she trudged up the stairs at the back of the shop that led to the family rooms. She was more than ready to sleep the rest of the day through as soon as she made it to her bedroom...  
The only problem; her mother made it to her first.

"Where were you all last night? Do you know how worried your father and I ha..." A short pause as the slightly older woman assessed her daughter, "What are you wearing?"

Ino didn't even turn to face her mother, she just pulled away, one step closer to her bedroom door, and ignored the question, "Please, just let me go to bed. I'm tired. I'll tell you everything, later, after I've had some sleep..."  
After the short argument that followed, in which Ino was soundly defeated by her much more experienced adversary, she found herself sitting down at the family table. The only thing between the two being the table itself, and a warm cup of tea.  
"Why don't you trust me, okaasan?"

"I do trust you..." Ino couldn't help but avert her eyes and suppress a sneer, sure that the words she had just heard weren't true, "I was worried about you! I just want to know what happened, and that you're alright."

"Fine!" Ino huffed and crossed her arms. Her temper had already been stretched far too thin, and what her mother was saying wasn't helping anything.  
"I'll tell you what happened," She closed her eyes, she was every kind of tired. The stress she had been under recently had been eating at her until she was sure that anything else would have mer her snap. "I was at a boy's house."  
She almost stopped there but her mother's breathless gasp, and what she imagined that it meant, was just enough of a push that it sent her over the edge.

Her eyes shot open and she glared at her mother, "No! Okaasan, I didn't have sex with him! He didn't even touch me! I doubt he even knew that I was there! He was sick okaasan... he was sick and I was taking care of him! I was taking care of him because he doesn't have anyone else... he's alone!"  
She rose to her feet, bumping the table as she turned away from her mother, "Now, I'm tired and I'm going to bed. Please, let me..."

She let her bedroom door close, with, perhaps a little more force than was necessary, before trudging over to her bed and collapsing on it. On her way home all she had wanted was to go to bed and get some sleep. She hadn't wanted to snap at her mom. She hadn't wanted to not control her emotions. She hadn't wanted to explode. She hadn't wanted to see the pain on her mother's face. She hadn't wanted to feel so hurt. No, she hadn't wanted any of it... so why? Why had any of it happened?  
And as she thought over what had just happened, over how she had just acted, and what it meant... she wept.

**( ~ VIII ~ )**

She couldn't move, she couldn't even breathe, until she heard her daughter's bedroom door slam shut. "Ino..."  
She took a deep breathe, repressing a shudder, as she rested her head against the table, clenching her eyes shut. She was mentally reeling. Her daughter had never had such an emotional outburst before.  
Inoichi had said that she was going to be under a lot of pressure, and stress, because of the training that her sensei, and especially that he, was going to be putting her through now that she was a kunoichi. She had thought that his warning had prepared her... she had thought that she had been ready.  
It hadn't. She wasn't.

She didn't know how long she had been sitting there, her mind blank, but she only opened her eyes when she heard the familiar ring of the bell, signaling that there was a customer that needed her attention. So, rising to her feet and trying to act like what had just happened hadn't effected her in the slightest, she put a smile on her face, and got to work. But even though her body and her words were with her customer, her mind, her consciousness, wasn't. Her mind was lingering on what had just happened between her and her daughter, what it would mean, and how hard it would be to rebuild the trust and faith she had so easily destroyed.

When she returned to the second floor of the building she saw the table and, on that table, the cup of tea. The tea had spilled, and long since cooled. As it sat there, though, she couldn't help but think about how that cup was representative of how their relationship would be from that point on. And just like how the trust and faith she had earned from her daughter was now spoiled, most of the tea had spilled out onto the table, wasted... but there was some left... There was some left! She would hope, she would pray, and she would believe!

**( ~ VIII ~ )**

His body had betrayed him; he felt like he was floating but he couldn't tell where, he couldn't see anything but the darkness, he couldn't feel anything but the damp, wet, cold that ate into every part of him. His eyes shot open, and as soon as he tried to shift into a sitting position he sank beneath the water. Without even taking the time to think he quickly pulled himself to the surface and cleared his lungs of the water he had, unintentionally, tried to breathe.  
He was awake now!  
Slowly, as he steadied himself on his feet just like he had been training to do over the last few days, he looked around, taking a few moments to assess his surroundings properly... and immediately ran through the techniques Kurenai had taught him to dispel illusions. None of them worked - which either meant he wasn't in a genjutsu, or he wasn't strong enough to dispel them.

The walls were made of some darkly colored metal. The ceiling seemed to be shrouded in an impenetrable darkness and the droplets of water that fell from that darkness, almost like a soft rain, created a soft drum as they hit the surface of the 'lake'. There was no visible source of light, but he could still see - almost as if the air itself had a dim glow.

After taking another few moments to relax, from his unexpected 'dip' in the water, he started walking, unaware of the fact that he was walking on the water like he had been trying, and failing, to do for the last several days. He didn't know why, but he almost felt like he knew exactly where he was going, like something was calling to him... something from deep inside of the darkness, an ancient soul that would put his to shame.

A million hallways that seemed to stretch into eternity, each with a million branches that sprouted their own branching pathways. This was truly a labyrinth without parallel - but he felt no hesitation as he proceeded down each hallway, there was no second-guessing as he chose the next path. He knew exactly how to get to where he was going, he was being drawn to it like a moth to an enticing flame. The only problem; He didn't know where he was going, he didn't know what he would find once he got there, and he wasn't sure he wanted to.

**( ~ VIII ~ )**

Much, much, deeper in the labyrinth a great being grinned a vicious grin, a feeling of pure delight coursing through its veins. A delight it had not felt in a very, very, long time. _"I will finally be free, and then... and then I will have my REVENGE!"_

**( ~ VIII ~ )**

He was finding this 'metal forest' quite fascinating. For instance: the floor, even when it was a slope, always had the same amount of water. The water, when on a slope, would flow against gravity, but on a level surface it was a still pond, only disturbed by his movements.  
If he had been paying more attention to what was going on around him, instead of the 'impossibilities' he had been seeing, then he would have noticed it much sooner...  
_"A breeze? No... it... it's breathing?"  
_Whatever it was was very heavy, and very, very, large.

His curiosity got the better of him, and couldn't help himself but to approach it. At the end of the hallway was a large chamber that stretched past where Naruto could see. This room, unlike the hallways, had a light that illuminated the room, it was an eerie red light, but it was a light none the less.  
Even with the light there were still shadows that danced across the walls and water.

He boldly walked forward, into the room, and realized that he was finally here. This is where he had been headed to. This is what he had been brought to this strange place to find. Now the question was... what was he supposed to do?

In front of the boy sat a cage, a cage so large that he could, easily, walk between the bars. Each individual bar of the cage was easily the size of some of the most ancient trees he had seen in Konoha and stretched high above before disappearing into the shadows... the bars seemed to emit a dull blue light, unlike the red light that bathed the rest of the chamber. The only thing that held the cage shut was a single piece of paper, with a seal written on it, stretched between the two gates. And past that one measly little piece of parchment there was nothing to stop... whatever was in the cage... from bursting out at any moment. And as he wondered why it hadn't gotten out before, a fierce explosion of rage ripped through the room nearly sending him to his feet. And, since he hadn't quite gotten his feet back under him, when the second pulse of rage tore through the chamber he was knocked to his back.  
When he finally recovered and rose back to his feet he heard a violent chuckle coming from the best inside of the cage, and as he looked up, he finally saw it.

A large head of the demon fox seemed to just float there, the rest of its body obscured in shadows, malicious intent pouring from its pearly white jaws.  
"Have you come to offer yourself as a sacrifice to me? Come closer, mortal, so that I may feast upon your marrow!" The shadows retreated as the giant demon fox began to glow, the body slowly coming into view behind the head.

He was confused, was _this_ the nine-tailed demon fox that everyone in Konoha hated so much? Was _this_ really the Kyuubi that had inspired fear at the mere mention of its name?  
"What are you!"

A malevolent grin spread across the fox's maw, "I am Kyuubi-no-kitsune! You are brave, or perhaps stupid, mortal child, to stand so defiantly in my presence."

"Kyuubi, huh? Well then, feasting on my marrow isn't going to happen! You're in my body!"

The giant fox just yawned, ignoring the blonde-haired boy's outburst, and laid down, resting its head on its paws. "Maybe you are just a fool... and I should devour you..."

"You will respect me! If I die so do you! This is my body and you have no control over me!"

The fox couldn't help but chuckle, at which it earned a vicious growl from the boy, "You're right on one part, and only one part. If you die, so do I, and I am not willing to die yet... not for quite some time."

"Shut up! I don't need you! I never asked for you! I never wanted you! You're the one that needs me! You have no control over me!" He didn't know why he was arguing with the demon fox, it was probably more pointless than arguing with Kurenai.

The fox raised a brow, questioningly, "Don't I? You would have died many times without my intervention, mortal. You are mistaken; it is you who needs me!"

He just bit his lip and changed the subject, taking a defiant step closer to the cage, "Why did you attack Konoha?"

The fox just yawned again, acting like he hadn't noticed the sudden shift in topics, "Which time?"

"The time you were sealed into me, you bastard! The time you killed the Fourth Hokage!"

"I didn't kill him..." The fox stopped himself from saying more, now was not the time for this boy to learn those things, "But you wouldn't believe anything I say anyway, would you?"  
"Did you not see my memories? Did you not feel my pain? That should be answer enough..." He would have said more but, before he could, the boy exploded.

"You could have done something else! Damn it! You caused me that much pain! You had friends, you had someone you loved and loved you! You've butchered my life! You've made my life miserable, and until now I didn't understand... but now I do. Everyone hates you, and I understand why! You're a selfish bastard! You wanted to hurt someone else because they had hurt you! Not because they had killed Shuurei! Not because they had slaughtered your children! But because they had hurt you!"

This human knew exactly which buttons to push, and had the seal not been holding him in check the boy would never even think a thought like that again, he had loved Shuurei... _"Had loved... I... I still do... don't I... I... I don't want to forget her... I don't want to forget about..."_

He stopped, his rage spent, and looked at the great demonic beast in front of him and almost felt guilty for a second. He had expected to see a beast so far beyond rage that not even the seal could hold it back, but what he saw, instead, was a creature that had experienced an emotional wound so deep that it would never heal. And, if only for a moment, Kyuubi seemed... 'human'.

**( ~ VIII ~ )**

Naruto answered the door, and almost closed it as soon as he recognized who was standing on the other side.  
"Hey, Naruto! Hold up!" He placed his hand on the door to keep it open, "I wanted to talk."

Naruto took a step away from the door and sneered, "Fine, Iruka-san."

The chunin entered the apartment, and immediately felt like something was wrong. Like _several_ things were wrong. The place was cleaner than usual, the way Naruto was standing was slightly off, the bedroom door, which Iruka had never seen closed, was shut. Without a moment of hesitation he lunged, and a moment later he felt nothing.

Kurenai sighed as she dropped the hengen and muttered a few curses beneath her breathe. She knew that Iruka had noticed, as soon as he had stepped into the apartment he had known that something was off. She would have to ask him what she had done wrong when he woke up. She was just glad that all he had done was lunge, and not tried something that would have caused damage.

**( ~ VIII ~ )**

The conversation he had been having with this human was interesting. As frustrating, and nearly as pointless as arguing with Shuurei, but interesting nonetheless.  
"What would you say to having power?" He watched the boy carefully, waiting for a reaction, "Power to take revenge on those who hurt you..."

"Shut up!" The blond haired boy growled at the demon, who was _really_ beginning to make him mad, "You should know me; you've only been hiding inside of my body for the last twelve years! I don't hurt people just because they hurt me!"

Kyuubi chuckled, "I wouldn't exactly call it hiding, child. You can leave a hiding spot whenever you choose, Naruto, you can not leave a prison..." He narrowed his eyes at the blond, "Yes, Naruto, you are my prison. Your..." he caught himself from saying anything that he shouldn't have, "Your hokage saw to that."  
The boy immediately started laughing, at which the fox growled , "What is so amusing!"

The blonde took a few more moments to laugh at the fox before looking up at the demon with a wry smile on his face, "What you said is the truth!" The blonde looked away, into the shadows, "I am your prison, not your jailer!" He turned to look back at the fox, "It looks like both of us are unwilling participants in this relationship."

A few moments passed before Kyuubi made the same mental connection that the boy had made moments before.  
"I could give you power, Naruto." The fox froze, just for a moment, to make sure he had the boy's attention and to make sure that the boy would make the distinction between his last offer and this one, "To protect those that you love."

"And who do I love?" Naruto asked, crossing his arms and staring up at the fox, dryly.

"No one, yet, but I am confident that you will find someone..." the fox took a moment to make sure Naruto had processed the deeper meaning behind his words, _"The whole world doesn't hate you, Naruto"  
_"And besides, there are those that you care about; Miyoi, Ino, Kurenai."

The boy eyed the fox, warily, trying to discern a hidden motive, "And what would you be getting out of this deal?" He was cautious, and rightfully so, demons were acknowledged, and sometimes even self-proclaimed, masters of deception.

"We share more than just a body," The fox looked down at the boy, "Your pain is my pain."  
"If you were ever to find someone you love, and have her taken from you..." The fox dripped with sadness for a moment, "I would feel that pain too. That... that is why I give you this offer. I fear... I fear feeling that pain ever again..."  
"All I ask is that you think over what I've said... Naruto..."

**( ~ VIII ~ )**

Kurenai placed the two cups of tea on the table before taking the seat opposite of Iruka's, "So, why did you come, again?"

"Well, I haven't seen Naruto in a while," Iruka rubbed the back of his head, and grinned sheepishly when he realized that she wouldn't let him get away without saying more, "I wanted to talk to him."  
"I wanted to tell him I'm sorry. I mean, I know I can't ask him to forgive me, but I wanted him to..." Iruka stopped talking when he noticed the bored facade that gilded Kurenai's face, the sleepy, unconcerned, gloss that veiled her eyes, like she was planning thousands of ways to torture him, to hurt him, to make him feel worse than he already did... but no... nothing could make him feel worse than he already did. The guilt was eating at him. The guilt had been eating at him for the last several days.

_"Is that the only reason I came here today, though? To lift this burden of guilt off of my shoulders so that I don't have to hurt anymore... What about Naruto? He's still hurting... and I'm the one that hurt him..."_

"Naruto came to see me, just under two weeks ago, Yuhi-san..." Iruka closed his eyes, trying to keep the forming tears from spilling over, and rested his face in his hands, "He was furious, and he had every right to be..."  
"Every excuse I could come up with, to pass the blame to someone else, he would give a reason to disbelieve... I..." A few short breathes of silence passed between the two before Iruka raised his head and continued, "I had planned out a whole speech to give to Naruto, about how sorry I was, about how I hoped that he'd eventually be able to forgive me, but I... He placed his trust in me, listened to me, and helped me whenever I needed it, but I betrayed the faith he had placed in me. He confided in me, believed in me, and I violated that trust."  
Iruka rose to his feet, slowly, and bowed to Kurenai, "Yuhi-san, take care of Naruto, please..."

She returned the bow, with a nod of her head, wondering what he was getting at.

"When Naruto get's up, Yuhi-san," He stopped just in front of the door, his hand resting on the doorknob, not even turning to look back at Kurenai, "Please tell him that I'm sorry..." He froze for a moment, "I have no right to ask him to forgive me..."  
His body was there but his mind was elsewhere, hovering over different thoughts, and she was sure that he was no longer talking to her, "Hate and revenge are double-edged blades, that can cut you more easily than they cut those you try to wield them against..." Iruka shook his head before turning around, sparing a glance at Naruto's bedroom door before looking at Kurenai, "Tell him that I'm sorry, and that I don't hate him."  
Iruka turned back to the door and opened it, but didn't step through, "He deserves better than this... Yuhi-san. Promise me you'll tell him. Promise me that you'll take care of him. Promise me that you'll help teach him to let go..."

Kurenai nodded her head, despite knowing that Iruka couldn't see her, "I promise."

And with that said, Iruka stepped through the door, closing it behind him, and, perhaps, out of Naruto's life.

**( ~ VIII ~ )**

He stepped away from his bedroom door, shaking. He almost couldn't believe what he had just heard. Iruka wasn't mad with him for having lost control of his emotions and exploding. Iruka wasn't mad at him for the things that he had said. Iruka wasn't mad at him for being the human prison of the nine-tailed demon fox. Iruka didn't hate him... and as Iruka's last words, and Kurenai's motherly advice, played through his mind, telling him to let go of his anger, he muttered two words beneath his breath, before he fell back to sleep.

"I promise..."

**Chapter End**

Alright! Chapter eight finished ( October 17th, 2010 ) -Finally-  
Re-posted ( October 18th, 2010 )  
Enjoy!

Author's Notes:

(18th) The edit was mostly about the Ino v. Okaasan scene, and a few of grammar fixes

(17th) Sorry it took so long, everyone, life has been making it a habit of getting in the way. (Not to mention the "updates" from fanfiction, my internet browser, and from two separate power outages where I live, have dropped the chapter a grand total of fifteen times. I am not kidding, trust me, I wish I was... The file was usually dropped just before I saved the file too...)  
I am not exaggerating the number ( I may be off by one or two) because I started counting after about the fourth or fifth time of having to retype bits of the chapter.

This story does not ( currently ) have a beta reader.

As always, I'm open to criticism and advice.

~ The Arms of Blood


	9. Misinterpreted Faith

AN: Chapter 8 was re-posted (_October _18th, 2010) : A few scenes were added to, and I fixed a few spelling and grammatical errors. And now on to chapter 9!

**The Nine Tails of the Heart**

**( ~ IX ~ )**

_**Chapter Nine: Misinterpreted Faith**_

Naruto was already at the training ground, refining his water walking technique, much like she had expected that he would be. She was surprised, however, to not see Kurenai and Shino there as well. She was sure that she had been running a little late, as she had purposefully avoided any face time with her mother that morning. But pushing thoughts of her family to the side, for the moment, she waved and called out to her fellow blond, "Hey! Naruto-kun!"

He turned towards the voice and grinned when he saw who it was, "Morning, Ino-san!" He returned the wave, not quite catching that she had just called him _"Naruto-kun."_

When Naruto finally stepped back onto solid ground and grinned at her, thanking her for handing him his towel, she couldn't help but return the smile, "I'm glad to see that you're feeling better..." and under her breathe, with a wry smile, she added, _"And just a little miffed that you got so good at water walking, despite being sick."_

Naruto pulled the towel away from his face, "I'm sorry, Ino-san, I didn't hear you... what did you say?"

"Oh... umm... nothing. It's nothing..." She chuckled nervously, mentally berating herself for having even said it out loud in the first place, and took a few steps closer to her fellow blond, sparing a cursory glance around, just in case she had missed them the first time, "So where are Kurenai-sensei and Shino-san?"

Naruto just shrugged, "I haven't seen Shino-san today but I saw Kurenai-sensei this morning. She stopped by my place to check on me and make sure I was alright. She said she'd be running a little late today because she had a few things she wanted to get done before she got here."

She was sure that he had lied, but she caught herself before she told him she thought so. It would do no good to accuse him of lying, whether or not he was, all it would do is damage any faith he might have had in her.  
If he hadn't realized that Kurenai had taken care of him, then he probably hadn't realized that she had taken care of him too. And if he hadn't realized that, then she wasn't about to tell him that she had spent the night at his place, or how she was amazed he could even live in a place like that without complaining. She wasn't about to tell him that she had sung to him, or about why she had one of his shirts. She wasn't about to tell him about the fight she had with her mother. No, she wouldn't tell him... so she just kept her mouth shut.  
She smiled at him, placing a hand on his shoulder, "I really am glad you're feeling better."

"Morning, my two little lovebirds, I hope I'm not interrupting anything!"

Both of the genin immediately turned to face the newcomer when they heard her voice. Naruto was glad to see her, and immediately returned the greeting, as if he hadn't even noticed. She, on the other hand, had noticed, and wasn't about to just let it slide, "We are not lovebirds, Kurenai-sensei!"

Kurenai just chuckled and shrugged, "That's not what I saw, but if you insist..." She had a sarcastic, mocking, tone in her voice, and all of them knew that she was joking... except for Shino, "Good morning, Shino."

Shino nodded in greeting, responding as efficiently as possible, "Kurenai-sensei." He then turned to look at his two teammates, and just looked at them for a moment before asking his question, "Naruto-san and Ino-san are in a relationship?"

Naruto greeted the new arrival, and she had been about to, but she had to clench her jaw shut to keep from belting her teammate across the clearing. She had to keep telling herself that it wasn't his fault that he was so dense on sarcasm. It wasn't his fault that he was about as emotionally intelligent as a rock. But still, she just didn't understand how Naruto was taking the teasing so calmly... _"Unless he doesn't mind the thought of us being..." _She flashed crimson, turning away from the group in an effort to hide her blush, and bowed her head.  
Naruto turned towards her and leaned over, trying to get a look at her face. She couldn't believe the gentleness with which his hand rested on her shoulder. She couldn't believe the concern she heard in his voice when he asked her if she was alright. She couldn't believe the genuine worry she saw in his eyes...  
It took her a moment to realize that she was staring, and she immediately broke eye contact, "Yeah... I'm fine..."

Kurenai didn't know what to do... she honestly had no idea. She had gotten a lot of good advice from some other jonin instructors, and just other adults in general, about how to handle the kids that she'd be taking under her wing... but no one had ever bothered to mention anything about what to do if emotions started coming into play. So she just went back to what, she thought, had triggered the whole mess, "Not to break the _moment_ you two are having..." She ignored Ino's few stumbling steps away from Naruto and hurriedly muttered comment, about how it was not a moment, before continuing, "But there are some things that we need to get done..."

**( ~ IX ~ )**

All three of them had progressed so much in the short time that she had been training them.  
Shino had shown himself to be, when pushed into a corner, quite devious. His chakra control, for a male his age and skill level, was rather impressive but she was having a hard time determining just how much chakra he actually had, because of the chakra-devouring beetles, the kikaichu, that nested in his body.  
Ino was a much harder worker than she had expected the girl to be. She didn't have as much chakra control as Shino, but she wasn't far behind.  
And Naruto... She honestly didn't know what to make of Naruto. His chakra control was poor, but he had proved himself to be very stubborn, and an incredibly fast learner. He also had a very large reservoir of chakra from which to draw, she, of course, passed it off as being because he was the human container, the jinchuriki, for Kyuubi. He was also much smarter than one would believe from just reading his school records.

She sighed and waved her three genin over.  
"Alright!" She looked over the children that had assembled in front of her, "All three of you have made a fair amount of progress with chakra control, tree climbing, water walking, and the basic techniques I've shown you regarding genjutsu. I'm impressed." She couldn't help but suppress a rising when she saw the smile on Naruto's face. She had never seen a smile so big.  
Ino had told her, just after Naruto had gotten sick, that he needed to hear that she, as their mentor, was proud of him. _"It looks like you were right, Ino..."  
_"My job, as your sensei, as far as I see it, is to teach you three how to survive, and keep you alive until you can truly be self-sufficient. Nothing more than that." She couldn't quite fight down the smirk that tugged at the corner of her lips, "That means that I don't have to get involved unless the situation is too much for the three of you to handle, or directly involves me. Do you understand?"

All three of the genin immediately sobered up as they caught what she was truly saying, they would be starting missions soon. "Hai, sensei!"

"Now, along the lines of teaching you self-sufficiency; All three of you need to start building the foundations for, and developing, your own repertoire of techniques, skills, and abilities." She stopped speaking for a moment, just to make sure they they really understood what she was saying. She was their teacher, not their mother, and she wasn't required to play nice. She pulled a small scroll out from her sleeve and knelt down. Opening the scroll she unsealed two more scrolls, before setting all three in a stack.  
She looked back up at her genin, "These will help you get your repertoire started."  
"Ino," She picked up the first scroll, looked at it for a second to make sure it was the right one, and then tossed it to the girl, who caught it easily enough, "On your scroll is a very subtle genjutsu. It was one of the first ones I mastered. If you learn it well it will be a valuable tool at your disposal."  
"Shino," She tossed the second scroll she had unsealed, "On your scroll is a slightly less subtle technique." She narrowed her eyes at the boy, to make sure that he would understand; less subtle didn't mean less effective. "It can be quite efficient at creating mayhem, and will probably end up suiting you much better than it ever suited me."

Shino looked down at the scroll in his hands and stayed silent for a moment, his mind running through the ramifications of _mayhem_, "Thank you, Kurenai-sensei."

"I picked those two specific genjutsu partially because of how I've seen you handle the situations I've been putting you through, and partially because of what I know about your family techniques." She rose to her feet, the original scroll in her hand, "Now, as for you, Naruto..." She turned to look at the other blond, and felt like she had been stabbed; the pained look on his face, even though he was trying to repress it and hide it behind a smile, hurt to see. It was almost like he believed that she wasn't going to give him a scroll too, because he wasn't woth it...  
She tried to act like she hadn't noticed the pain, like she hadn't been effected by it at all, but she had, "Your chakra control has gotten a lot better, but I don't think you'd be able to use one, effectively, in a combat environment, or any similarly stressful situation... yet." She placed an emphasis on her last word, and glared at the boy, trying to change the look on his face... she almost couldn't bear it.  
"So instead of giving you a genjutsu, which wouldn't serve you as well as it possible could, at the moment, I'm going to be giving you something with a little more physical kick." She tossed the scroll in her hand at Naruto, who juggled with it for a moment before it was secure in his grasp. "Your scrolls are in there..."  
She turned back to look at the other two, "Before either of you ask why I said I was giving Naruto scrolls when I only gave you one; you two have families, and are going to be learning your family techniques. Naruto doesn't have that. An extra technique or two isn't going to make up for the lack of a family..."

Kurenai had been looking directly at her. She promptly closed her mouth, and grimaced as she thought it over, _"This isn't the first time they've told me this... I've even been to his apartment... and it still hasn't sunk in." _She looked over to her teammate and sighed, he was glancing down at the scroll in his hands, like it was a puzzle box he didn't have the key to open. _"I've never really had much to worry about... my parents have always been there to take care of any real troubles that came along, and took care of all of my necessities. I have a nice home, nice clothes... I have everything that Naruto doesn't have..."_

She looked over each of the genin and realized that they, all three of them, were deep in their own thoughts. So she would give them a few moments before dragging them back to reality.  
"I do not have to, nor am I going to, just give you techniques and those are some of the last ones, if not the last ones, that I will ever just give to you. From here on out you have to buy, steal, create, or trade for the rest of your techniques. Now you can, but you do not have to, share the techniques on those scrolls with your teammates. I won't give advice either way."  
"I'll be glad to help you three work on your chakra control, refinement of techniques, development of new techniques, possible uses for techniques, or anything along those lines. But realize that if you bring me a jutsu, and have me help you master it, then you've just given me another technique for my own repertoire. And if I do happen to already know that technique, then I will want compensation in some other form, like another jutsu, for instance, or through some monetary payment."

"Umm... Kurenai-sensei..." Naruto stayed silent for a moment, as if not sure how, or whether, he should ask his question, "You said my scrolls are sealed in this..." He lifted the scroll in his hands for a moment, and rubbed the back of his head with his free hand, "How would I get them out?"

She almost wanted to laugh, but the sincerity with which he had asked that question almost scared her, "You unseal them, of course, Naruto." She had to fight even harder to keep her balance, and a straight face, when he asked, with all the honesty and innocence in the world, how. "They did teach you the basics of sealing techniques in the academy didn't they?"  
When all three of the genin shook their heads no she was honestly floored, _"What the hell were those idiots doing then?"  
_She spent the next two hours showing her squad the basics of sealing and unsealing. She didn't show them how to make seals, apply seals, temporarily disable seals, negate seals, remove seals, or anything of that sort. She just showed them how to seal and unseal an item from an object that had the appropriate seals written on it. And when she felt confident enough that the three genin had the basics down, and a little practice under their belts, she looked them over one more time.  
"Now, before you get all excited and go running off to look at, and practice, what's on your scrolls, let's stop by the Hokage tower and get you three your first mission..."

**( ~ IX ~ )**

"Alright!" Kurenai grinned at her kids before leaning against the door frame. She had gone to talk to the Hokage, to give her report on their progress, and to pick up some basic details about a few missions. She didn't see why they shouldn't have a choice in their first one, as they wouldn't likely ever have a choice in any other mission they were to do. "I'm back."  
All three of the genin listened carefully as she explained the details of the missions they had a choice of. There was Tora, _lovingly_ nicknamed the "demon-cat from hell" by the several squads of genin that had dealt with that cat over the past years, a feline escapee from the very affectionate embrace of the daimyo's wife. There were also a few gardens that needed to be weeded, and a few fences that needed to be white-washed.

She hadn't expected any complaint from Shino because she knew that he would see the benefit of starting out easy, and because he was normally the quiet one anyway.  
She hadn't expected much, if any, of a complaint from Ino because the girl was smart enough to know when to shut up and get down to the business at hand. But...  
She had expected an argument from Naruto as soon as she explained the details of the three missions they were being given a choice of. So she waited while the three genin talked it over, watching for the slight tick of frustration, or the outburst she had expected. Neither came.

She hadn't realized that she had spaced out until Naruto looked up at her face, his own full of concern, and asked her if she was okay. "Yeah... yeah..." She waved her hand in front of her face and grinned at the blond, casually dismissing his concern, "I'm fine... I was just wondering why you weren't complaining about a 'boring D-rank mission' when there are 'more important' stuff that needs to be done."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at her, wary of what she was really trying to say, "And why would I complain, Kurenai-sensei?"

She shrugged, watching his eyes carefully, "Your school folder, Naruto, do you know what it says about your dream missions, the first mission you wanted to go on, and etcetera?"

Naruto nodded, not taking his eyes of her, "And what about what my folder says? Haven't I proven that thing's not right about me, more than once?"

She returned his glare, more than willing to match it with one of her own, "You can't have been exaggerating that much Naruto. Didn't you become a ninja so that you'd be the next Hokage? You can't ever become Hokage if all you do is catch stray pets and whitewash fences."

She was egging him on, and he knew it, "So? What's your point Yuhi-san?"

That was reason enough to slap him across the room. She was almost taken aback, though, by his sudden switch from -sensei to -san. It was almost like he was increasing the distance between them, to protect himself, like she had somehow damaged the faith he had in her. "My point, Naruto," She grinned, trying, and failing, once more to change the look on his face, "Is that I expected you to argue with me, and you are... just not over what I imagined the argument would be about. I want to know why." She finally spared a glance over to the other two genin. Ino and Shino had both taken several steps back towards the wall, and the other door, and looked, rightfully so, ready to run.

"I told you already why I don't want to jump ahead in missions, damn it!" He growled at her, his rational mind being pushed back by the feral side, "We're a team, if one of us is not well then it hinders all of us! If Ino-san or Shino-san got hurt because I was too sure of myself and my abilities... I would never be able to forgive myself! Do you know how long I've waited to have real friends? My entire life, Yuhi-san! Shino-san and Ino-san are the closest things I've ever had to real friends! I don't want to lose them just because I was being too cocky and trying to do something that I wasn't capable, or ready, to do! I don't want them to hate me for something I could have prevented! Is that enough of reason _why_ for you, Yuhi-san?"

She almost couldn't believe the outburst... She watched as the boy stormed out of the room and down the corridor... which was probably for the best, they both needed to cool off.  
Was that how he had acted, though, after he went to go _'get answers'_ from Iruka, the first night that they had been a team? She couldn't fault his logic, or the underlying maturity, but the thing that she really found herself caught on, the thing she really wanted to know; Why was their so much pain behind his words?  
When she spared another glance over to Shino and Ino she couldn't help but imagine that she didn't look to be in any better condition than them. Both of them looked pale, and a little weak at the knees. None of them had expected Naruto's rage, the words he had used, or the reason behind those words.

**( ~ IX ~ )**

Naruto sat on the balcony, his feet dangling off of the edge and his hands squeezing tightly to the railing, looking at the four unblinking visages of the Hokage's. His body was there, but his mind was elsewhere. He wondered if he'd ever have anyone that he could trust...  
He had trusted Iruka, but Iruka had betrayed him. He had trusted Kurenai, but for some reason she couldn't find it in herself to trust him. He had trusted Sarutobi, but if he had lied about the Kyuubi he had probably lied about other things as well. He wanted to trust Shino but he never could tell what he was thinking, or what the bug boy thought of him. He wanted to trust Ino but she had always been so focused on Sasuke, and even though she hadn't complained for the last several days he was sure that Sasuke was still on her mind.

He pulled out the scroll that Kurenai had given him earlier that morning and sighed as he looked at it. He had, perhaps, over reacted, he knew that much. He looked back up to the faces on the mountain and rubbed the back of his head, feeling a little guilty. It wasn't that she didn't trust him, and it wasn't that she didn't have any faith in him either, it really was just because she had been curious about why he had acted differently than she expected.  
Unrolling the scroll, and looking at the seals, he sighed again thinking over how Kurenai wouldn't have taught him so much, and about how she worked so hard at helping him... things she wouldn't have done if she didn't care.  
Looking at the seals on the scroll reminded him about his prisoner, _"I wonder if Kikoe know's anything about seals?"_ He rubbed the back of his head and groaned in frustration, _"But how would I contact him to ask... since I have no idea how it even happened the first time..."_

**( ~ IX ~ )**

Ino was walking through the hallway, back to the room where Shino was waiting, after a cursory visit to the restroom. Kurenai had left them in that room, and told them not to go anywhere while she went to go talk to the Hokage. But she really wasn't paying a great deal of attention to where she was going. Her focus rested on the worries that surrounded her. She hadn't seen Naruto since he stormed out of the room, and she couldn't help but think over what he had said about never having had friends... and how he considered them friends.  
She had come to the terms with the fact that he didn't have a family... and never had a family... but she had never once thought that he didn't have anyone that looked out for him and took care of him because they cared. She knew that Naruto had spent a lot of time with Iruka and the Hokage, but they weren't, they couldn't really be, considered friends. In the academy she had always been too busy chasing after Sasuke, and fighting with Sakura, to pay much attention to Naruto. She had noticed him, but she had never really cared. Of all of the academy students Miyoi and Kiba were probably the only two of them that ever really talked to Naruto and spent time with him... Kiba probably only talked to Naruto because Miyoi talked to Naruto.  
She was shaken out of her thoughts when she walked into something... or, rather, someone...

"Hey! Watch where you're going Ino-pig!"

"Oh, Shut up Sakura!" She sent a glare at the pink-haired girl before picking herself up off of the floor and dusting herself up, "I'm not in the mood to argue with you today."

Her lips curled into a vicious grin before she smiled at the blond in front of her, "Would that be because you haven't done any missions yet? You know, you're the only squad who hasn't been on a single mission yet, not even a single D-rank mission."

Ino just bit her lip and shook her head, "That's because we've been training, Sakura."

Sakura just laughed, stretching her arm across the hallway to keep her ex-friend from passing her, "Training? Of course you were training! You would need it though, wouldn't you."

She glared at the witch in front of her, "And what, exactly, are you trying to say, Sakura?"

Sakura shrugged, trying to keep the smirk off of her face, "The squads were assigned by strength, Ino, and we all know that Naruto was the dead last. That means that you must be pretty weak yourself to have gotten assigned to his team..."

She couldn't help but laugh a little herself. Sakura focused so much on getting under the skin with her taunts that she left herself wide open for most of them to be turned around back onto her.  
Ino shook her head and grinned, "So, what you're saying, Sakura, is that Sasuke sucks?"

Sakura growled at the blond, "I said nothing of the sort about my Sasuke-kun! I was saying that Naruto-baka sucks."

She had enjoyed how quickly the smugness melted off of Sakura's expression, "No, I'm pretty sure you said that Sasuke sucks, because you said the squads were built by strength, and you, Sakura, are pitiful."  
She walked past Sakura and down the hallway towards the room she was supposed to be waiting in, ignoring most of Sakura's comments - until she mentioned Naruto...  
She turned around and glared daggers, "What did you say?"

"I said that you're only protecting him because you're in love with the idiot!"

She clenched her fists, more than ready, and willing, to punch the lights out of the girl that stood in front of her. But she wasn't going to do it... she was not going to punch her... she would not stoop to her level. "Yeah, I'm protecting him, so what? He's my teammate, and my friend, it's my job to protect him. And yes, maybe I do like him, but so what? At least he's honest with me, something he never was with you. He never liked you, Sakura, and if you had ever taken a minute to stop playing the bitch and pay attention to him then you would have realized that. He's not an idiot, Sakura..." She turned away from the pink-haired girl and walked down the hallway before Sakura could say, or do, anything else to make her mad.

She didn't know why she had said a few of the things she did. She didn't know why she hadn't said a few things that she had been wanting, had been _planning_, to.  
But as she took a seat next to Shino, waiting for Kurenai and Naruto to return, she thought over what she had said, and why she had said it... and couldn't help but find herself caught on the four words she had said without thinking, _"Maybe I do like him..."_

**Chapter End**

Alright! Chapter Nine is finished (Sunday, October 24th, 2010 - early morning) - I was tired. I was also frustrated with the last scene (still am, a little, actually) and wanted to rewrite it. So that's why this came out on Sunday instead of Friday...  
Slight edit to the last scene on October 26th.

Enjoy!

Author's Notes:  
I am slightly unsure about this chapter, but I've been feeling weird lately and everything seems a little off, so I don't know if that's the cause... I'll rewrite this chapter again (like I've done with a few others) if you, my audience, or if I, at a later time, feels that it needs to be rewritten.  
By "feeling weird" I mean; My equilibrium isn't working like it should, which sucks, and I've been having a little difficulty focusing... so I think I'm getting sick... joy.

This story does not (currently) have a beta reader.

As always, I'm open to criticism and advice.

~ The Arms of Blood


	10. The First Mission! Fear and Despair!

**The Nine Tails of the Heart**

**( ~ IX ~ )_( ~ X ~ )_( ~ XI ~ )**

_**Chapter Ten: The First Mission! Fear and Despair!**_

She nudged Naruto into the room, sighing as the other two genin looked up at her. Shino looked... well... Shino looked like he always did. Ino, on the other hand, looked a little past frustrated and somewhere near the border of the realm of anger. Kurenai raised her hand to stop Ino from talking, "Before either of you ask me where I've been; I've been talking to the Hokage about your first mission. If you have any complaints about what took so long, take it up with him." Ino looked sufficiently cowed by that statement, closed her mouth, before any words could come out, and promptly sat back down - trying to look as sweet and innocent as possible.  
But it really was just a lie.  
She hadn't spent the entire time that she had been away from the kids talking to the Hokage about the mission. She had talked to Hiruzen about her team, and whether or not he thought that they'd be ready for something like C-rank missions, with no 'real world' experience under their belts. Most of the time, though, she had spent watching Naruto.

When she found him on the balcony, he had been practicing the storage seal technique she had taught to them.  
As soon as she had done it she wondered, and worried, if she had just made a huge mistake... but the thought that teaching Naruto fuinjutsu might be dangerous hadn't crossed her mind up until the moment after she had done it... Even then, she had put off talking to Hiruzen because she didn't think, teaching him as little as she had, that he would make much progress. Seeing him training, though, brought to mind just how hard the boy pushed himself... and that only heightened her worry.

She knew that he wasn't the demon, and that was why she didn't resent him like so many other people did. She did worry, though, that, should the Kyuubi wake from its slumber, he would have no control of it. As far as she knew, no one had ever been able to control the Kyuubi.  
She had suspected that he was training because he was angry. She had suspected that he was angry because of how similar this situation was to the situation with Iruka. Wasn't anger one of the key traits of the Nine Tailed Fox? Wasn't Naruto's emotional volatility just more evidence that the beast was stirring from its rest?

_"I had expected him to be angry. I had counted on it, having planned out exactly what I was going to say, and do, to calm him down and reestablish whatever the connection was that I somehow damaged... but..."_ He hadn't been angry with her. And when he didn't accuse her of anything, when he asked her to forgive him, she couldn't think of anything to say. So, instead, she did the only thing she could think to do; She pulled him into a hug and held onto him, letting him know, the only way she could think to express it, that she didn't hate him. She wasn't angry with him. She forgave him... and, silently, hoped that he would forgive her too.

Pushing those thoughts out of her mind, for the moment, though, she grinned at the three genin that stood in front of her. They were what was important now, she could deal with the worry later. "Now! Here's the details of your first mission: Deliver a package, and several documents, to a recipient in a different village. The recipient being in a different village is why this mission isn't a 'D' ranked mission. After we deliver the package and documents we're to wait for the reply. If there is no reply, after three days, we may return to the village and the mission will be considered complete. If there is a reply we need to escort it safely back here, to the Hokage Tower, before the mission will be considered complete. Is everything clear? Any questions?"

"Yeah, actually, Kurenai-sensei... I do have a few." Naruto waited for her to acknowledge him before he continued, "Is the delivery being outside of the village the only reason it's a C-rank and not a 'D' ranked mission?"

Kurenai nodded, "Pretty much. There aren't often bandits in, or near, the village because of patrols. As soon as you leave the area directly surrounding the village, though, it's a different picture.

"Should we be worrying about any special weather patterns, or other conditions, then? Should we take any extra precautions as far as food, water, supplies, etcetera? How far away is our destination? And about how many days are we planning to be away from the village?"

She couldn't help but smirk, leaning against the wall and crossing her arms, watching Naruto's face, carefully, for any sign of deceit, "Are you wondering how long we'll be away because you're worried you might miss an important date?"

Naruto shook his head, slowly, "No, Kurenai-sensei. I just want to know how many and what supplies to pack."

Not quite able to repress the smile that tugged at her lips, she grinned. Naruto had some good questions. "We're not going to be heading anywhere where the weather conditions are going to be any different than they are in Konohagakure. The village that we're travelling to is about two days, east-northeast, travel from here. You might want to pack some non-perishable food, and bring a water canteen or two, but water and food shouldn't be an issue. Plan to be gone between four and seven days." She then turned to the other two genin making sure that all three of them knew that there was something that they needed to hear.  
"Now, listen carefully! Normally, for missions, I'm going to expect you three to be ready to go whenever I call on you. That means that you should have a supply pack prepared, and by the door, so that you can grab it and meet me wherever I tell you to meet me, within an hour or two at most. I understand that that's not possible this time, which is why we're not leaving today. I'm giving you the rest of today to take care of anything you need to get done. We meet, tomorrow morning, by the front gate, before sunrise. Understood?"

The three genin took a moment to process the information before responding, with varying levels of enthusiasm, "Hai, Kurenai-sesnei!"

Ino and Shino both left immediately to go prepare for their first mission.  
Naruto, on the other hand, stayed behind waiting for his teammates to get out of earshot before he asked his question, in all seriousness, "Why are we doing a 'C' ranked missions, Kurenai-sensei?"

"Because Hokage-sama thinks you're ready." When she spared a look at Naruto's face, she realized that she wasn't going to be able to evade the question so easily, "And I did too."

"Why, then, did you bring us D-rank missions if you thought we were ready?"

She let out a breathe, leaning back against the wall and crossing her arms, again, "It was a test, Naruto. I was trying to see how mature you three were. I didn't expect Shino to complain, since he's generally the quiet one. I didn't expect Ino to complain, she knows, most of the time, when to stay quiet and do as she's told. I did, however, expect you to complain..." She narrowed her eyes, watching him for an sort of reaction, "All three of you are ready, and have been for some time now, for 'C' ranked missions, as far as your skills are concerned anyway. I was worried, though, that you might not be mature enough to handle them. C-rank missions are nothing like the academy, or training, or even 'D' ranked missions. In C-rank missions people can get hurt, and killed, if you're not careful."

"So if I had kept my mouth shut and not said anything you would have told us you were kidding and picked a C-rank mission for us?"

Kurenai shook her head, closing her eyes and taking a deep breathe, "If you had complained I wouldn't have even considered letting you go on any C-rank missions for a long time. Even if you hadn't complained, I wouldn't have let you three go on a C-rank mission."  
"I would have considered letting you three take on something, more complicated, much sooner, if you hadn't complained, but it still would have been a while before I let you three tackle any 'C' ranked missions."  
She opened her eyes, and smiled demurely at the boy, "But what you said, Naruto, about why you didn't want to jump ahead in missions... that made me think. You're worried about your teammates' safety and your ability to protect them. That, Naruto, is the maturity that I was looking for, in each of you, before I gave the go ahead for any C-rank missions. That is why your first missions is a 'C' ranked mission."  
"Now," She placed a hand on his shoulder and guided him out of the room, into the hallway and towards the stairs, "Don't you have some packing to do? Run along and get it done."

**( ~ IX ~ )_( ~ X ~ )_( ~ XI ~ )**

The moon was full, and bright, but very little of its light spilled past the thick cloud cover. The night was, even with the moon, almost too dark to see, and would have been too dark if not for the lamps on the street corners. The morning air was chill and quiet, hardly even rustling the leaves in the trees. Very few people, or animals, were on the streets at this hour of the morning, not even the birds were awake yet.

The breeze picked up the few loose strands of her hair and tossed it around her face. She had expected to be the first one by the gate, but she wasn't truly surprised to see Naruto already there, and waiting. Pulling her purple windbreaker even tighter around her, even though she knew it wouldn't make her any warmer, and cursing herself for having worn a skirt instead of shorts or a pair of pants, she waved to the other blond who returned the wave and smiled at her as she neared him and the bench he had been sitting on.

"Morning, Ino-san."

She yawned and rubbed her eyes before she returned the smile, and the greeting. She dropped her backpack at her feet before taking the seat right next to him on the bench, "How long do you think we'll have to wait for Kurenai-sensei and Shino-san to get here?"

Naruto just shrugged, "I don't know. I don't think it'll take any more than another hour though."

"Another hour? Naruto-san, how long have you been waiting?"

He grinned, rubbing the back of his head with a free hand, "Not that long, actually, I just got here myself."

She sighed, rubbing her hands together to warm them. If he had just gotten there himself that most likely meant one of two things: Either he had stayed up all night, hadn't gotten any sleep, and just decided to come and wait, or he had been awake for the last several hours, and had probably been training to pass the time.  
Her bet was on the training.

She had been thinking about the mission since before she went to bed the night before. She wondered what, if anything, would happen, and, if something did happen, would they be able to handle it, or would Kurenai have to save them? She wondered if all of the things she had learned in the academy would be enough to survive in the real world. Even if this mission went perfectly, what about all the other missions that they would eventually do? She wondered if she'd ever be able to follow in the footsteps of her father. He was a great man, and had made a name for himself in the village as an excellent shinobi... but would she ever be able to live up to that?  
She hadn't even realized that she'd spaced out, her mind preoccupied by worries and concerns, until she felt Naruto's hand on her shoulder... She looked up at the boy, sleepily, "Hmm?"

"Are you cold, Ino-san?"

_"Well, yeah! How are you not cold, Naruto..."_ She nodded her head, affirming his _most brilliant_ deduction, "Yeah, a little..."

"Alright," He shrugged out of his monstrous orange jacket and offered it to her, "You can use this if you want. It might be a little better than your windbreaker at keeping you warm."

She took his jacket with a smile, not sure whether to say thanks, or not say anything at all. In the end, just before she put his jacket on, she settled on a quiet "Thank you."

**( ~ IX ~ )_( ~ X ~ )_( ~ XI ~ )**

Kurenai smiled as she walked up to the two genin, sighing when she saw Naruto's jacket around Ino's shoulders, and her windbreaker draped over her, she presumed, bare legs. She knew the two weren't in a relationship, at least that's what they said, but if someone didn't know the kids she wouldn't blame them if they confused that little fact. It was a deal of fun to tease them though, "My, my, my! Are my two little lovebirds enjoying the cool night air?"

"We are not lovebirds, Kurenai-sensei..."

She couldn't help but chuckle at Ino's reaction. She also couldn't help but notice that her reaction had been much less vehement than the one the day before had been. She didn't know, though; was it because of something that happened yesterday, or was it because she was tired?

Shino approached the group, greeting them each, with a nod, in turn. "Good morning, Kurenai-sensei. Ino-san. Naruto-san." He then looked at his two teammates for a moment, and looked like he was about to ask a question, but, for whatever reason, he decided against it.

"Alright," She smiled at the three genin in front of her as the two blonds rose to their feet. Ino tied her windbreaker around her waist before slinging her pack over her shoulder.  
"Here's the package..." She placed her pack on the ground in front of her and pulled out a rectangular box that was just longer than her outstretched hand and wrist, and just wider than her arm. All in all it was a rather bland box.  
"And the documents..." From another pocket she pulled a thick grey folder whose clasp was tied with string.  
"So..." She looked over each of the three genin, "Who's going to be carrying them?"

Both of the blonds immediately said that they would do it, and then glared at each other. They were 'discussing' why they thought that they should do it instead of the other, and probably would have continued to 'discuss' their point of view had she not stepped in when Naruto told Ino that he should carry it because he didn't have a pack of his own.  
"I gave you all of yesterday to put all of your supplies together, Naruto. Why don't you have a pack?"

The blonde sighed before looking over to the jonin, "Because I don't need one..."  
He narrowed his eyes at her when she sighed, rubbing her temples with her fingers, "And what are you frustrated about, Kurenai-sensei? Why did you teach us sealing techniques if you didn't want us to use it?"

"Wait!" She coughed, choking on the surprised, "You're not being serious are you?"  
_"Oh, Kami-sama, I hope he's fooling around and not being serious... Maybe I shouldn't have put off talking to Sarutobi-sama..."_

Naruto sighed as he pulled a scroll, the one she had given him the day before, out of the pouch on his hip, "No, Kurenai-sensei, I'm not kidding."

She swallowed the lump in her throat and grinned at the boy, _"This is, oh, so very not good... I need to talk to the Hokage right away..."  
_If Naruto had, in less than one day he had not only learned, but mastered. In even less than twenty-four hours he had mastered them to the point that he could replicate them.  
She wouldn't have been so worried if a seal was just a drawing... because, then, duplicating a seal would be easy enough. Even a simple seal like the storage seal, though, could seem overly complicated to someone that didn't know what they were doing, which was the reason that so few people used them for anything more than storage, and very, very, few people ever used them in combat.  
She also wouldn't have been so worried if the thought that Naruto might have been naturally talented had crossed her mind, it hadn't. She thought it was a different reason that he picked up on it so easily... she thought it was because the Nine Tails was beginning to influence Naruto's body... in more than just the visual respect of the 'whisker' marks on his face, and the immense reservoir of chakra on which he could draw.  
And she was right... there was a reason, aside from natural talent, that Naruto had picked up on the fuinjutsu so quickly.

"Sorry, kids, but I just remembered that that there's something really, really, really, important, that I forgot to do. I need to go take care of that... right away. Go on ahead without me, I'll catch up."  
"Here, you can carry these for now..." She dropped the package and documents into Ino's hands, "Shino's in charge until I get back. Now, go! You've a mission to do!"  
And before any of the genin could respond she disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto blinked. And then he blinked again, before turning to look at Ino who looked to be no less confused than he.  
Shino released a breathe, which to the Aburame amounted to a sigh, before shaking his head and walking towards their destination, leaving the other two genin to catch up at their own pace.

**( ~ IX ~ )_( ~ X ~ )_( ~ XI ~ )**

The rest of that day passed by uneventfully for the three genin, and that night, just at sunset, Shino called for the group to make camp. Assigning himself to be the first watch, Ino to take care of dinner, and Naruto to prepare the camp. She had, of course, expected Naruto to complain about stopping, saying that they should keep going since there was still daylight... but he didn't.

Shortly after Naruto completed pitching the tents, and setting the other supplies, he disappeared into the woods, returning only for dinner and disappearing again just after it was finished. She knew that he was training, but she wondered why he always trained so hard... And then she remembered what Shino had told her, just a little while after they had started their water walking training, about how he had never had an easy time at anything, and how he put as much effort as he could into everything he did.

_"Yeah... he might not have ever had it easy, Shino, but he's never been easy on himself either..."_

**( ~ IX ~ )_( ~ X ~ )_( ~ XI ~ )**

Her red sleeve fluttered violently as she crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust and leaves as she landed. She could have easily set a more steady pace and caught up with them in a days time, but she couldn't afford that...  
She sighed as she looked around the small clearing, _"Yes... this is where they set up camp last night, which means that I'm probably not that far behind them. It'll take another hour or two, at most, to catch up."  
_ And with her targets nearly in sight, she disappeared.

**( ~ IX ~ )_( ~ X ~ )_( ~ XI ~ )**

As the three genin neared their target destination, coming to the final hill before they reached the village, which was not more than another hour's travel away, they heard a scream for help coming from the rocky outcropping up ahead. And without a moment's hesitation, or taking a moment to formulate a plan, Naruto dashed ahead, followed closely behind by his two teammates.

The blond skidded to a halt as he turned the corner, the rocky terrain having hidden both parties from the other's view. There, in front of him, was a large group of men, and what seemed to be an almost completely destroyed wagon.  
All but one of the men looked to be a part of a bandit gang. The man that did not was being held up the collar of his dark-grey shirt.

There was to be no hesitation, or second-guessing. This was it! This was the real deal! "Hey! Leave him alone!"

Several of the bandits turned to the newcomers, laughing as they noticed the three genin, "What? What is this? Just a bunch of children?"

The apparent leader of the group tossed the man against the cart before turning to the genin. "My, my, my! And here I was thinking that today was going to be boring!" He grinned at the children but, as his eyes traveled to each of them in turn, his grin diminished when he realized what they were, "Don't let your guards down, boys! They're not normal kids, they're ninja!"

He couldn't help but growl as he spared a glance down to the wounded man lying by the cart. He was still breathing, that meant that he was alive... for now.  
Tearing his eyes away from the victim, of what looked like a robbery, he bit back the urge to yell. This wasn't the time to let his emotions take over. His teammates needed him to be able to control himself. "Ino, you have the packages, stay back and stay out of the fight. Protect yourself if you need to." He signaled for her to take a few steps back with his hand, not taking his eyes off of the bandits in front of him for even a second. "Shino, are you with me?"

Shino nodded, a nearly imperceptible motion, "I was given charge of the team until Kurenai-sensei returns, Naruto."

He couldn't help but smirk, that was as much of a 'yes' as he was going to get from Shino. "Well, I hope you're ready for this!" He brought his fingers together and roared, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

**( ~ IX ~ )_( ~ X ~ )_( ~ XI ~ )**

Ino took a few steps back, setting her backpack and the delivery on the ground next to her, before shifting into a defensive stance and pulling a kunai off of her belt. She would, this once, listen to Naruto, but later she would have a _little chat_ with hom about telling her what to do.

The bunshin mob that Naruto had made, each brandishing a kunai of their own, charged the bandits, followed closely behind by waves of kikaichu beetles. By the time the bandits managed to put a dent in Naruto's bunshin forces the kikaichu had eaten enough chakra from several of the bandits to take them out of the fight as well.

She had been watching the battle carefully, for the last several minutes, waiting for an opening that she could use to assist her teammates. But she hadn't been seeing one... and then she did.  
A single bandit was standing just behind a group of three, all four of which were readying crossbows.  
She, quickly calculating how much time it would take to do everything that she needed to do before any of the bandits could fire a bolt at Naruto, Shino, or herself, wondered if she would have enough time. The answer: Just enough.

She couldn't help but grin as she dropped down into a crouch. This would be the first time she had ever tried the Mind Body Switch Technique on a real human, she had only ever practiced on animals before. Her father had warned her to be very careful with, and had explained all the ramifications and risks of, that technique.

Applying the entirety of her focus on her opponent, and bringing her hands together just like her father had been teaching her to do, she slowly loosed the breathe she had been holding, _"Here I go! Shintenshin no Jutsu!"_

Releasing the bolt she held in her hands, she grinned, _"So this is what it feels like to control someone else's body?"_

Immediately taking advantage of her element of surprise she launched an attack of opportunity against the bandits, dropping all three of them before they could react.  
Scanning the remnants of the battlefield she noticed a bandit charging towards the prone form of her real body. She would never be able to get there in time, even if she released the technique!

She squeezed her eyes shut, muttering a quick prayer to kami-sama, she didn't want to see her own death...  
Her father had warned her to be extremely careful while using the Mind Body Switch Technique... and she though that she had listened. She had been careful, or so she thought.  
While using the technique her real body would be left extremely vulnerable, and if her body, or the body she had taken control of, died... so would she.

Unable to do anything but cringe as the tidal wave of rage crashed into her, she cautiously opened her eyes, gasping at what she saw...  
_"Na... Naruto...?"_

**( ~ IX ~ )_( ~ X ~ )_( ~ XI ~ )**

Shino leaped away from the man that, he assumed, was the leader of this group of bandits. The man was proving to be quite proficient with the knives he wielded in his hands, which made hand-to-hand combat with him much too risky, and his kikaichu beetles, even though they had been feasting on his chakra for some time, didn't seem to be having any effect.  
Blocking the slash of a knife with his kunai Shino rolled out of the way of the accompanying blow, _"Damn him! He's not giving me a chance to catch my breathe..._"

Stuttering for a second when he felt Naruto's rage, an intense spike of chakra, he immediately regretted leaving himself open, barely managing to avoid the blades' edges. Attention could be given to Naruto's problem in a moment. For now, as long as this man still stood, he had his own problems to take care of.

**( ~ IX ~ )_( ~ X ~ )_( ~ XI ~ )**

During her most recent talk with Sarutobi-sama, _"I have been having a lot of those in the last few days..."_, she expressed her concern of Naruto having any sealing techniques in his hands. He was the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Naruto had, much more quickly than anyone she knew, gone from learning the basics of the technique to, not only copying but, perfectly replicating a fully functioning version of it.  
She worried that his new found knowledge of sealing techniques, and all the questions that that knowledge would raise, would tempt him to delve deeper into the art of fuinjutsu... which she feared would speed up the process of the already awakening Nine Tailed Fox.  
What was to stop the beast from tempting Naruto, using him, to weaken the seal and let it free?

Hiruzen had tried to calm her, to relieve her stress, but his words had not eased her troubled mind. The many things that he was leaving unsaid only served to heighten her tension. He did, however, giver her one command, a command that she thought she understood the entire reason behind. She was to watch Naruto carefully, handle any situations that may arise to the best of their ability, and inform him, as soon as possible of anything that occured.

Naruto losing control of the beast that lived inside of him... that was what she feared.  
She never, ever again, wanted to feel so hopeless. She never, ever again, wanted to feel so weak and powerless. She never, ever again, wanted to feel like she was being forced to drink cup after cup after cup of the creature's contempt. She never, ever again, wanted to feel a fury so immense that it felt like it was absorbing all of her strength, ready to turn it back on her with just a single thought and destroy her completely. She never, ever again, wanted to feel like she was being drowned in a sea of despair that would swallow her up and leave her lost in an abyss from which she could never be rescued. She never, ever again, wanted to feel those ever-widening, pulsating, rings of hatred that flowed from the beast like tidal waves...

And as the cold deluge washed over her she reflexively shivered, cursing at what, she imagined, that flood meant. Naruto's chakra had never spiked like that during training, and she couldn't deny the unmasked flavor of rage that accompanied it. Cursing, again, she pushed forward as quickly as she could, plunging through the forest canopy, towards the children.

She feared getting there too late. She feared Naruto losing control, control that he never had, of the beast that lived inside of him.  
And as she muttered a quick prayer to kami-sama, she feared what would happen if the Nine Tails broke free.

**( ~ IX ~ )_( ~ X ~ )_( ~ XI ~ )**

There seemed to be hundreds of bandits, even though there really hadn't been more than thirty, as he dropped another one with a reverse roundhouse kick to the rubs. He turned to find his next opponent, quickly re-assessing the situation.  
The man that Shino was engaged with looked to be nearly entirely covered with the Aburame's kikaichu beetles, even though he didn't seem to notice. Shino was, what appeared to be effortlessly, dodging his opponent's tireless assault, staying just out of range of the two daggers in his opponents hands. Naruto spared a grin, _"Shino has him handled!"_, before he continued his survey. His kage bunshins were handling most, well... his bunshins were handling all of the other bandits, except for two. The first was standing by himself staring towards... _"Ino!"  
_Quickly turning towards his fellow blond, he saw her lying on the ground, prone and helpless, almost as if she wasn't even in her body, a puppet with no puppet master.  
The second un-engaged bandit was heading towards her...

Experiencing only that solitary moment of hesitation, he threw himself forward, pushing his body as hard as he could, to get to her side and protect her...  
His entire focus, his sole purpose, as he charged towards his destination, was on getting to her side before the bandit reached her. But he knew that he wouldn't make it in time... She would get hurt, and it would be all his fault!  
If only he had complained like Kurenai had expected him too...  
If only he had told Kurenai that that weren't ready for missions...  
If only he had payed more attention to the battlefield...  
If only he had been stronger...  
If only he could get there in time...  
If only he could have mastered the technique that he had been practicing...  
If only he would have focused on something else instead of the storage seals...  
If only... If only... If only...

Ino would get hurt, and it would be all his fault. He could not... He would **not** accept that!  
And as he lost all rational though, the feral side, driven only by emotions, taking over, his mind and vision, which had been fogged with despair, were cleansed by the searing heat of an unquenchable rage.  
The world seemed to slow around him as he surged forwards, his vision tunneling in on his target destination... and, in what felt like a fraction of a second, he was there.  
Using his momentum he launched the bandit away from Ino's prone form, sending the man crashing into the ravine wall - an impact that the man would not rouse himself from for quite some time.

His feral mind, blocking out everything that existed outside of the immediate area surrounding his body, stood watch over Ino's prone form. Nothing would hurt her while he was there. His feral mind's only purpose, at that moment in time, was to be by her side and protect her from harm, and **nothing** would keep him from that!

**( ~ IX ~ )_( ~ X ~ )_( ~ XI ~ )**

Shino grimaced as he found himself caught in a scissor attack. If he charged forward, dodged left or right, ducked or jumped, his opponent would simply alter the trajectory of his knives and catch him. That left one direction to go, but there wasn't much farther back he could go. The ravine wall was right behind him, which was what his opponent had been pushing him towards the entire time.

Spinning around, dashing towards the ravine wall, he took a few running steps up the wall before leaping off of it, avoiding the blades' edges once again as his opponent tried to stab him.  
Turning in air he dropped his foot onto the bandit with a powerful axe kick, which only narrowly missed its mark of the man's head that landed on his shoulder instead. Shino immediately shoved the larger man, who'd collapsed to his knee from the force of the blow, against the ravine wall. Shino leaned forward, "This fight is over. Move and I break your arm, and then your leg." Placing his hands to show the man, without a doubt, that the threat was not made idly and that he should take him very seriously.

His beetles had told him, but he'd ignored, that Naruto seemed to teleport. He wondered, now, if that was what Naruto had gone off into the woods to practice. Was that one of the techniques Kurenai had sealed on his scroll?  
He pushed those thought out of his mind as he caught, out of the corner of his eye, sight of a, welcome, familiar red, _"Kurenai-sensei is finally here... that's good."_

**( ~ IX ~ )_( ~ X ~ )_( ~ XI ~ )**

As soon as she arrived most of the bandits, that were still on their feet, lost morale and began to flee, "The boss is down! More of them are showing up! I'm out of here!" And when they noticed their allies fleeing the rest broke rank and ran as well. Normally she would have been more than happy to give chase but, for now, her team needed her more.

Her heart felt like it skipped several beats when she saw Naruto standing defensively over Ino's prone form... but, before she could do anything, he collapsed, his clones disappearing in clouds of smoke, as his feral mind retreated, the last of his emotional energy spent.  
Ino slowly pulled herself from the ground, and crawled over to Naruto to make sure he was alright.

The relief that washed through her when she saw Ino move... it was almost too much to stand. She had feared, when she arrived and saw Naruto standing defensively over Ino's body, that Ino had been hurt... but seeing her pulling herself to her feet, and tending to Naruto... it was almost too much... Neither Ino nor Naruto were hurt and both of them would be okay. That was all that she could ask for.

She allowed herself a shuddering breathe before returning to the situation at hand. Seventeen bandits were lying on the ground, unconscious, Shino was holding another one against the ravine wall, and another was lying limply against the ravine wall... She was proud of them, even though she wouldn't say it, that they had done so well without her... but now wasn't the time for those thoughts.

Pulling several lengths of rope from her pack she began to tie up the bandits, starting with the one that Shino was holding down.

**Chapter End**

Alright! Chapter Ten is finished, for real this time! (Tuesday, November 9th, 2010)

Enjoy!

Author's Notes: I do hope everyone finds this version a much more enjoyable reading experience. I also hope that everyone can forgive me for taking over two weeks to get the chapter posted and for, the day I originally posted the chapter, not catching that the document reverted to a prior version.

This story does not (currently) have an official beta reader.

As always, I'm open to criticism and advice.

~ The Arms of Blood


	11. The First Mission! Lessons!

**The Nine Tails of the Heart**

**( ~ XI ~ )**

_**Chapter Eleven: The First Mission! Lessons!**_

The morning breeze was gentle, as were the warming rays of the morning light that spilled down from the morning sun, but the thoughts that hounded him were anything but gentle... Even in his sleep he had been restless and haunted, tortured, by the shadows in his own mind, but when he woke... when he realized that it wasn't just a nightmare...  
He wiped the tears from his eyes and shuddered, pierced by a cold that no heat could provide the warmth to fight... He couldn't help but wonder what would happen now as another tear rolled down his cheek. Would he ever be able to face anyone ever again? What would Kurenai-sensei think of him? And Shino? Her mother? Her father? ...  
Would everyone treat it as though it had never happened, or would, every single time someone looked at him, he have finally earned the contempt and hatred that the villagers had always shown towards him?  
He rested his head between his knees, wrapping his arms around his legs, and repressed a shudder as the tears overwhelmed him once more.

**( ~ XI ~ )**

As they approached the village the day before, with the prisoners in tow, and an unconscious Naruto on her back, she brought the group to a halt, ignoring the growls, curses, and complaints from their captives. Passing the blonde into the Aburame's care she turned her gaze to the prisoners, making sure that none of them would dare try anything 'unwise' while she talked to her squad. "You two go on ahead to the hotel without me. I'll take care of the delivery and these idiots..."

Shino nodded and turned to leave, but Ino lingered for a moment, almost as if she were unsure of what to do, "Kurenai-sensei... I'm worried about Naruto..."

Kurenai yanked on the rope that bound the captives together, causing several of them to stumble forwards, when one of them made an inappropriate remark about a young blonde-haired woman. "I know, but everything will be okay, don't worry. Go ahead and get some rest, you and Shino have both earned it..."

**( ~ XI ~ )**

The next morning she guided her students to a small clearing just out of sight of the village, listened to their points of view on what happened, and left them to their own devices, letting them know that they could relax if they wanted to, but she knew that they wouldn't... she knew full well that they both would probably throw themselves into their training more ruthlessly than they had before. She knew that both of them would realize where there mistakes had been, and continue to work, because that was what they had been trained to do even before they joined the academy.

The real reason she wanted her two students out of the way, however, was because there was something that she needed to do...

The door glided, smoothly and silently, open, revealing a small, compact, room. The room was sparsely furnished with soft, earthen, tones. The wallpaper was a flat autumnal design of bleak oranges and dim, dull, reds. The small, unmade, bed rested in the opposite corner of the room from the door, perpendicular to the window and nightstand next to it. The floor looked, unlike the higher traffic areas of the building, well maintained with a fresh layer of polish over the wooden planks. The wardrobe sat directly opposite of the bed and to the left of the main door, was open, and empty... he wasn't here... But the gentle swishing of the pale lavender-green curtains that covered the window and dimmed the rays from the early morning sun hold her exactly where she could go to find who she was looking for...

**( ~ XI ~ )**

A small gust of wind tousled his hair as a pained snarl crossed his face, he lifted his head and wiped the tears from his eyes, and without turning to see the new arrival he asked "What do you want?" trying to keep the pain out of his voice.

She narrowed her eyes at him, she could only guess at what was going through his mind right now and saying the wrong thing at the wrong time would help no one, so, just this once, she would ignore his little slip. "We need to talk."

"No offence, Kurenai-sensei, we don't need to talk... and I don't want to talk..." He paused for a few seconds, "Please... leave me alone."

"None taken, Naruto..." She placed a hand on his shoulder, which he promptly brushed off, and took a seat right next to him. She understood why he liked spending his free time lying down and staring up at the sky, and had her being here been under different circumstances she might have been able to appreciate the view a little more. The sky was so peaceful, the clouds floating lazily overhead, and one could almost forget the world around them when lost in it... but now was not the time to forget the world.  
"Whether you want to or not, we do need to talk, Naruto, I need to know what happened..."

He rolled away from her and shot to his feet, an emotion between pain and undiluted rage gilding his face, "You know everything you need to know! I couldn't protect her! It's my fault! It's all my fault!"

"Yes, Naruto, we do need to talk! I need to know what happened out there! Tell me! What happened?"  
When Naruto sat down again she placed a hand on his shoulder, and she could almost feel the anger that boiled inside of him, but she knew that his anger was directed at himself, and she knew that he had another wound, a wound that was deeper than just another emotional blow... and she knew, no matter how much she wanted to help, that only he could heal that wound. And when he finally began to talk, the pain evident in his voice, she listened.

He told her how he felt that he had betrayed his team, like he had betrayed the faith that they had in him. About how he felt like what he had been told, time and time again, was true. He told her that he felt like he was a failure, a pity, a disgrace, and how he felt like his life was pointless and hopeless, that things would have gone better had he not been there, that squad eight would be better off without him, and that as soon as they got back to Konoha she should talk to Sarutobi and...  
She could **not** stand it anymore!

He froze in shock, not moving for several moments, and in those moments his mind tried to figure out what happened... he knew what she had done, but he couldn't believe that she had done it... his head turned slowly back to face her, his jaw still hanging open.  
"What the hell! Kurenai-sensei? You** hit** me!"

"I didn't hit you Naruto, I slapped you. There is a difference..." She said pointedly, daring to meet his glare with an even more fervent one of her own.

"A fine distinction that is!"

She shook the boy until he apologized, and then she narrowed her eyes at him, and tightened her grip on his shoulder, a silent signal that he should listen, listen well and comprehend, what she was about to say. "Naruto, listen to me! You are **not** worthless, you are **not** hopeless, and anyone that says you are is pathetic! You did **not** betray us, and none of us feel that way! None of us hate you, Naruto! Ino doesn't hate you! Shino doesn't hate you either, and neither do I! Yes, you may have been a little reckless, but nobody blames you for that, hell, all of us made a few mistakes, but we **can** learn from that and move on!" She shook him again, more gently this time, when he sneered, "You are **not** a pity, and you are **not** a disgrace, and had you not been there, Shino tells me that they probably would have decided to get involved on their own anyways... You saved that man's life Naruto, and probably Ino's too!" She slapped him again when he scoffed.

"What was that for? Kami! Will you stop hitting me!" He didn't bother facing her again, he just scrunched up as small as he could with her grip on his shoulder and rubbed his cheek.

"I slapped you, **again**, Naruto, because you're not listening!" She grabbed him with both hands before shaking him again, "Damn it, Naruto! You are **not** a failure, and what happened is **not** your fault! And until I'm sure that that information has gotten through to you I'm going to keep doing whatever I think is necessary to assist it!" She slipped one hand under his chin and turned his face to look at hers, making sure that he was looking into her eyes, "You need to stop wallowing in self-pity, it will never get you anywhere in life, and will only cause trouble for you and everyone you care about. Do you understand me?"  
She narrowed her eyes at him when he didn't respond, "Naruto, do you understand me?"

He closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breathe, "Hai, Kurenai-sensei, I understand you..."

"Good..." She pulled him into a hug, tousled his hair, and then helped him to his feet, "Now, let's go see about getting something to eat, hmm?"

**( ~ XI ~ )**

The rest of the day passed slowly for her, much too slowly. She had spent most of her time making sure that everything that needed to be done was done, and that when the time came for them to depart the village and head back to Konohagakure they could do so with minimal hassle.

As she approached the two genin Shino was the first to spot her. He rose smoothly to his feet, dusted himself off, and informed Ino of Kurenai's arrival. Ino immediately smiled and waved, calling out to her, "Kurenai-sensei!"

They had both made a fair amount of progress, despite her absence, which was to be expected from her students, after all, they were hard workers... most of the time. Naruto seemed, at first glance, to be the most prone to slack off and daydream, but when it came down to it he worked just as hard as, and even sometimes harder than, any of them.

Shino waited until Kureani came within casual speaking distance before speaking, "Sensei," he waited, again, for her to acknowledge him before he continued, "How is Naruto doing?"

She had expected that question, but not from Shino - Shino didn't seem the type to ask questions... it wasn't that he didn't care, it was just that he always seemed to be in the background, always observing, watching, learning. Rarely did he bring the focus to bear on himself. She sighed, "Physically: He's alright. Though, he does have a few things to deal with..." She lowered herself to the ground, stretching her legs out to relax, "And that's what I wanted to talk to you two about..."

It was touching to see that they were both concerned for their teammate's well being, but there were things that it was still too early for them to know, and she told them all she could about what Naruto's own perspective had been, leaving out what she was sure he himself had not told her: The Kyuubi no Kitsune had been involved. She, for Naruto's sake, asked them to give him some room for the time being, there were emotions and thoughts, things that troubled him, that he needed to deal with on his own for now, and if either of them did, or said, the wrong thing it would make things much worse.

**( ~ XI ~ )**

She had tried nearly everything she could think of to get the boy to cheer up, aside from, of course, taking him into his mind and having a very serious, and lengthy, _discussion_ with him about a few things. But that would be a last resort, one which, she hoped, she would never have to use on any of her students.

She stopped eating and looked up as her two other students entered the restaurant, after having made a quick stop by their rooms to clean up, their day of training finally over. She was glad that Naruto had chosen the seat at the table that had the worst possible vantage point of the door, or even, really, the room. It did have a great view of the wall, though, which was, she presumed, the reason that Naruto had chosen that seat in particular - over the last day he had become extremely reclusive and anti-social, which was at such odds with the bubbly, and generally hyper-active, attitude he typically portrayed.

Shino slid into the seat next to Kurenai, and Ino took the seat next to Naruto, sparing a glance at him as she sat - at which he immediately recoiled, almost as if her presence hurt him.

He quickly excused himself from the table, leaving his plate of food largely untouched...

_"Was it truly so distressing for him, as Kurenai-sensei said, or...?"_ She narrowed her eyes at his retreating form for a moment, turning back to face the other two, before sparing a quick glance over the menu, _"He probably thinks that I'm weak, and that I need protection. Well..."_ She scoffed, _"I'll show him!"_

**( ~ XI ~ )**

The next day was no better than the day before. She had dragged all three of the children out of the village back to the training grounds, partly as a way to keep Naruto locking himself in his room, for another day of training. Honestly pleased, even though she wouldn't say it, with the progress her three charges had made in the short time she had been working with them.  
She wasn't all that surprised when Naruto immediately broke off from the group and headed to the other side of the clearing, putting him nearly out of shouting distance, to train on his own.

Turning back to the other two, Kurenai smiled and shrugged, unsure as to what, exactly, any of them could do for the boy, "I want both of you to leave Naruto be, for now, he's still recovering..." She spared another glance at the blonde-haired boy, sitting, cross-legged, on the ground, "I'll come get you three if there are any updates to the plan, otherwise just do what you did yesterday..." She paused for a moment to weigh her choices, almost as though peering into the future, to perceive the possible consequences of her actions. And when Kurenai finally spoke again, it seemed like she wasn't even talking to them anymore, lost, somewhere, in her own thoughts.  
"He has to deal with beasts that no one has ever faced before, bear burdens that no one can understand. He should have love and respect, but all he has is hatred he's done nothing to earn..."

She was lost, she didn't have any idea what Kurenai was saying... "Kurenai-sensei? Beasts? Burdens? I don't understand..."

Kurenai grimaced, chuckling nervously, when Ino spoke, almost like she had been snapped out of her thoughts and brought back to reality, only to realize that she had said something that she wasn't supposed to, "It's nothing... forget I said anything."

Ino narrowed her eyes, "Alright, Kurenai-sensei...", and even though she had said she would, she was not about to just let this go... _"This isn't the first time Kurenai-sensei's made mention of something special about Naruto..."_ She spared herself one more glance, at her fellow blonde, _"What is so special about you, Naruto, that no one is supposed to know?"_

**( ~ XI ~ )**

_Nearly a half-hour later_

The blonde haired boy growled in frustration, just about ready to scream. She had been bugging him to show her how he had done the Shunshin technique, and she probably wasn't going to stop until she accomplished her goal "You don't understand! Kurenai-sensei! I can't do it, since I have no idea how I even did it the first time!"

She sighed, frustrated herself, "But, Naruto, you can do it! Obviously, considering that you've done it before."

He turned and punched the nearest tree in anger, only to regret it a moment later as, what felt like several hundred, splinters buried themselves in his hand.

She rolled her eyes and turned around, standing in front of her was exactly what she needed, and, as the inspiration struck, a dark and vile grin spread across her face.  
When she approached Ino she just had to ask, "Do you trust me?", and when the girl responded in the affirmative she was more than glad that Ino was willing to cooperate in this. So, placing a hand on Ino's shoulder, while Naruto tended to his wound, she talked to the girl for a minute, discussing exactly what she needed Ino to do. She sent Ino off to go tell Shino what was going to happen, she, on the other hand, had to get the ball rolling...

"How's your hand?" Kurenai asked, grinning at the boy as she walked back towards him a few minutes later, to which she received a growled response, letting her know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that Naruto was still extremely frustrated - which meant it was the perfect time to carry out her plan... and had she been a few years younger, she probably would have never considered it, but even know, she still felt like she was shaking, even though her hands were just as steady as they had always been... all the things that could go wrong with this plan, just to teach Naruto a little lesson, she almost wondered, second-guessing herself, if it was worth it. But Ino had agreed, she knew all the risks, she knew all the things that could go wrong...

Squatting down, next to the boy, and placing a hand on his shoulder to steady herself... and give herself something to push against if he should react too soon...  
"You know, Naruto, if you can't do the Shunshin, then by all accounts Ino should be dead right now..." He immediately shot her a venomous glare that nearly made her falter, though that was exactly the type of reaction she was looking for. She tightened her grip on his shoulder and returned the glare, glad that she wasn't shaking, even though she felt like she was going to rip herself apart... "I can fix that you know..."  
Her voice was almost too calm, too soft, like she really meant what she had just said.

Naruto pushed her away and launched himself to his feet, reaching slowly for his kunai pouch, "You wouldn't dare..."

She rose slowly to her feet, matching his glare with one of her own, "She's supposed to be dead anyway, Naruto, why deny fate..." A demonic smile crossing her face, "And besides..." She shrugged, not once taking her eyes off of the boy, "It's not like you can stop me."

He lunged.

She hadn't even seen him draw the kunai, but she brushed him easily to the side, sending him stumbling forward, "You can't deny fate, Naruto. You can run from it for a little while, but it will eventually catch up with you. Just like it's caught up with Ino. She is going to die, Naruto, and there is nothing you can do to stop it."

A feral growl escaped his throat as he lunged again, but this time, instead of brushing him to the side she disappeared in a swirl of leaves, "Don't you run away from me!" He screamed to the sky.

An insidious laughter caught his ear, and he immediately turned to face it. "I'm not the one that's running, Naruto. I'm just preparing to do exactly what I promised I would."  
He took a stumbling step forward and then froze when Kurenai chuckled, "Don't take another step forward..." She was holding a visibly shocked Ino against her body, one hand covering the blonde's mouth, the other holding a knife.

He bit his lip, uttering a silent curse, if he charged Ino would be dead before he got there, and it didn't seem like she was in the mood to talk... but he wasn't alone... "Shino..." He spared a glance over to the Aburame and almost chocked when he saw the Aburame leaning carelessly against a tree, paying more attention to the beetle that just landed on the tip of his index finger than what was happening.  
Turning back to face Kurenai he cursed beneath his breath before lunging forward, nearly getting to the two woman before she disappeared in another swirl of leaves.

A mocking chuckle gave away her location, but it didn't seem like she was actually trying to hide from him... just torment him. Making a _tsk_ing sound with her tongue, and shaking her head slowly, "It's almost pathetic, Naruto, I know you can move faster than that..." A small, wicked, grin crossed her face as she leaned down whisper something in Ino's ear... something which made the blonde's eye's go wide and make her visibly shiver.

He charged again, a Kage Bunshin forming behind him as he closed the distance between them, only to have Kurenai disappear again.

"Truly pathetic, Naruto..."

The voice came from right behind him, he whirled - swinging his arm wide, trying to get a hand on Kurenai, nearly missing her as she took a step back. He lunged forward, only to be met by another Shunshin.

"You'll never be able to save her if that's all you do, Naruto..." She rested the length of the blade she held in her hand against Ino's throat, and pressed it lightly into the girls skin, causing small trails of blood to flow down her neck.

A deep boiling rage brewed inside of him... the woman standing in front of him was not to be taken lightly, nor was the wound on Ino's neck, the complete terror in her eyes giving him the only reason he needed to attack... and attack swiftly.  
Appearing right behind Kurenai he slid his arm underneath her own and pushed it away, leaving the knife to fly out of her loose grasp. Latching onto her arm and spinning her around, trusting in Ino to take the moment of surprise and put some distance between them, slammed his free fist into her stomach - momentum causing her to stumble farther into his fist, coughing as her breathe suddenly escaped her lungs.  
Knowing that he'd never be able to beat the jonin if he gave her even a moment to catch her breathe, and even then, using everything he knew, he would probably lose, he attacked again, slamming Kurenai against the nearest tree and pushing his forearm against her throat...

"Naruto!"

He turned his head, only to see Ino, captured once more, and Kurenai, who chuckled "You don't think you're the only one that can create Kage Bunshin, do you, Naruto?"

Turning back to face his victim, he saw it wasn't Kurenai, but instead the Bunshin he had made before... which disappeared in a puff of smoke.  
"You traitorous bitch!" He growled as he lunged, once more, towards Kurenai - throwing himself forward with all the speed he could muster.

She was glad that Naruto was reacting, she just didn't expect him to react quite the way he was. He had Shunshin'd once already, but she honestly hadn't expected it, and had she not managed to complete her second genjutsu then she would have been in a lot more pain than she was at the moment. She'd incapacitated Naruto's Bunshin almost as soon as he had made it, glad that he'd only made the one... and was even more glad that she had put Naruto under another genjutsu, giving her just a moment to catch her breathe... and it was just the moment she needed.

She used his momentum against him, kicking him in the chest, and slammed him into the ground. Kneeling down on top of him, she held his arms down as he struggled to get up. Leaning over him, her lips next to his ear, she chuckled lightly, a small grin gracing her face, "Now that is the Naruto I remember! Not a sulking fool, but a fighter!" She loosened her hold in his arms, but did not release him, "You can Shunshin, Naruto, you just needed to give yourself a reason to do it. And each time your reason has been protection someone you care about..."

She ignored his snarling comments, and spent the next several hours talking to the boy, trying to calm him down and tell him that it had been a test, that she had never meant any real harm to Ino, and that she would never, willingly, threaten her students... her children.

**( ~ XI ~ )**

She stopped outside of Naruto's bedroom door, her fist raised to knock... but she didn't. _"Naruto, Kurenai-sensei picked up the reply package, we're leaving tomorrow morning, be ready to go..."_ just didn't seem like the right thing to say.  
After Naruto and Kurenai's scuffle, she dared not call it a real fight, he had, as expected, retreated even farther from the group to deal with his thoughts on his own. Naruto had been the first to leave the clearing to head back to his room, and didn't come down to meet them for dinner... something which, Kurenai-sensei said, honestly didn't surprise her.

Shino had watched carefully, as he always seemed to, and after Kurenai talked to Ino a little, tending to the scratch on the girl's throat, she spent a good deal of time talking to him.

She stood there in thought, for what, when she realized that she had just been standing there, felt like minutes, before sighing. _"I guess I'll just make it up as I go..."  
_Testing the door, surprised to find that it wasn't locked, she opened it...

Naruto's room was, unsurprisingly, decorated much as her own. She was surprised, however, to see Naruto sitting on the windowsill, his feet dangling over the edge. The curtains, blowing in the light breeze, and the lack of light in his room almost made it feel eerie. "Naruto..." She began, but as soon as he turned around she stopped. He tried to rub the tears off of his face, but she could see that his eyes were still red.

She didn't know how long they stood there, watching each other... She was lost in thought, unsure of how to react, entirely forgetting what she had come to say, and he was waiting for the damning words he had heard all of his life...  
He was the first to break the silence, turning back towards the window as another tear escaped his eye. He wouldn't be able to handle it... he couldn't bear the unmasked disdain... he wouldn't be able to survive her turning away from him, losing one of the few people he had ever considered a friend. "Do you hate me?"

She was surprised that his voice was so calm and even, when it shouldn't have been... but she had no idea what to say. She had spent several hours every day thinking of reasons that he may have retreated from their squad, avoiding them as often as possible, but she had never considered this...  
Settling on the first thing that crossed her mind, she walked up to him and wrapped her arms around him, resting her head on his shoulder like her mother used to do to her when she was younger. "No, Naruto..." She paused for a moment, "I don't hate you."

When Naruto turned around, and wrapped his arms around her as well, and started crying again - she almost thought it was pathetic, but she smothered that thought before it fully formed. She had people to go to, to protect her when she needed it, people that she could trust, people that loved her... and people that she loved. Naruto didn't have that... had never had that. It was something akin to a miracle that he had managed as well as he had.  
So when he began to talk, releasing his burdens and telling her what troubled him so deeply, she listened... because he needed people, he needed someone, too.

**( ~ XI ~ )**

The next day passed slowly for the quartet as they pressed on in silence, determined to reach Konohagakure by nightfall. Each member, except perhaps Shino, was lost in their own thoughts.

And, just as the sun began to set, the village came in sight. Giving them just the energy they needed to make it home.  
Reporting the mission a success to the gate guards, she shouldered the package and sent the genin home - each of them had earned a rest... she, on the other hand, despite wishing very much to go home and get some sleep herself, had things that needed to be done first... mainly: talking to Sarutobi-sama... again...

When she finally got home she collapsed onto her bed, frustrated by how things had turned out on her first mission with her genin. She had been told, many times, that it's not always as easy as it, at first, may seem. She understood that, of course, because there had been missions, throughout her career, that had nearly been hazardous because things didn't go as smoothly as planned... but she did wonder why they didn't do a better job of explaining to the jonin instructors, especially the new ones, just how frustrating it could really be. She knew she was supposed to train the kids, they had explained that part just fine, even though she had pretty much told them that she wasn't going to... _"I'll have to fix that little bit of oversight... eventually..._"

She understood the part about keeping the kids alive, on track, and completing the missions... it was how the village maintained functionality. Hell, she even understood the part about helping the kids grow into fine young ninja of Konohagakure no Sato. The part she was still struggling with, the part that they had neglected to mention to her when she signed on for the job, was the part where she was supposed to be their mother too... it wasn't that she didn't like children, she wanted some of her own someday, it was just that she didn't always know the best way to handle the situations that had a bad tendency of cropping up when she wasn't looking.

And the paperwork...  
Rolling over and burrowing her face into her pillow she groaned, suddenly realizing how much paperwork there would be for this mission... she would not only have to write the mission report, but she would also have to explain why she wasn't there when Squad 8 fought the bandits, and she would also have to explain the little scuffle in the forest with Naruto, and she would also have to explain the scratch on Ino's neck...

Groaning, again, she pushed her face further into the pillow, _"I should probably have a talk with Inoichi-sama too... preferably before he comes to have a '_little chat' _with me about what happened to his daughter..."_

**Chapter End**

Alright! Chapter Eleven is finished! (February 20th, 2011)

Enjoy!

Author's Notes:  
Boy is this chapter late... (- Understatement)

Honestly, I did get very frustrated with the chapter. Namely: The 'emotional' scenes with Naruto and Naruto and Kurenai's 'scuffle' ... which was probably 90+% of the chapter.  
My problem with the emotional scenes was that I couldn't think of a way to do them service... they play out so much better in my mind than they do on paper (to me anyway .)  
My problem with the 'fight' scene... I didn't want to have Naruto overreacting, so I think I may have underplayed just how he would have reacted in a situation like that... and it's bugging me...

I'd like to apologize, again (like I seem to do at nearly every chapter, actually .), that the chapter's don't come out as fast as I want them to.

I should probably start looking for 'official' beta-reader(s) soon... (To those of you who are the 'unofficial' ones, I'd like to thank you, again, for all the criticism and advice you've given me.)  
This story does not (currently) have an(y) official beta-reader(s).

As always, I'm open to criticism and advice.

~ The Arms of Blood


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